You know that urban legend that things happen in threes?  Well, I joked with a colleague about this recently in the form of three good deeds.  I had completed two and needed a third.

It all started on a Sunday.  I was walking my really large dog and he, um, well, made quite an impression on a neighbor’s yard, sidewalk, and driveway.  I usually carry plenty of bags for such occasions but, well…this time my dog decided to walk and leave a trail.  I did my best to clean it up, but to no avail.  I made the decision to knock on the door of the home to see if I could use the garden hose to clean up.  You see, I really can’t stand when animal guardians do not pick up after their companion animals.  There is nothing worse than navigating through the “landmines” of irresponsible people.  I was a bit nervous since I figured they would think I was either nuts or chew me out.  A gentleman opened the door and was very gracious.  When his hose didn’t quite reach, he gave me towels and bags to finish the job and even offered to let me come in and wash my hands.  I cleaned up the mess, thanked him, and left.  I already felt bad enough for bothering him on a Sunday afternoon and just wanted to get out of his way.  I did feel good for being a responsible neighbor, however.

Monday rolled around and I was on my way to work.  I stopped at a red light at a very busy intersection here in Los Angeles.  BOOM!  I witnessed an accident.  There were at least, oh, I don’t know, 10 or more others that witnessed it in plain view.  Guess how many people stopped to see if everyone was alright?  Yup, just me!  I was a bit appalled.  Sure, it is Monday morning and we all need to get to work but do we not have a few minutes to spare to help someone out in a very stressful situation?  I had a particularly busy day ahead of me but stopped and gave the involved parties my business card in case they needed a witness for anything.

When I finally got to the office on Monday I discussed that I was able to do two “good deeds” in the last two days.  I jokingly mentioned that I needed one more with a colleague.  That opportunity came yesterday.

The colleague I had told about the deeds and another had gone to a late lunch.  The particular street they parked on was notorious for towing cars if they were parked even one minute past rush hour.  For those of you elsewhere, many of the main streets do not allow parking between the hours of 3-7 pm or 4-7 pm here in Los Angeles so to relieve some traffic congestion.  Anyways – they finished lunch at 3:07 pm and – POOF!  They were towed.  They called me and I went to pick them up and take them to the tow yard.  Luckily, since I was able to leave the office right away they saved a substantial amount of money since we got to the yard within the hour of towing (Yeah, the price is OUTRAGEOUS, but that is another matter). 

Today I realized that I got to do the three good deeds.  As silly as it is to do the “things come in threes” thing I thought it was pretty cool.  I’m actually one of those people that will always stop and help you if you need directions, let you merge on the highway, or even open the door for you if you are carrying too much.  I always like to be part of the solution, not the problem.  Oh, and for you skeptics, yes – I am a Los Angeles native.  There are actually a large number of us who are quite kind and like to be citizens in a community.

My colleague that I told about the deeds and was eventually able to help suggested I write about this and pass the word to others.  In total, the time it took me to go a little bit out of my way for others did not really add up to much.  The dog incident was about 10 minutes and the accident was about the same.  The longest was the towing incident at about an hour.  Big deal.  If we could all just take a moment out of our days to even be considerate to one another, the world would be a better place.

I’ll get off my soapbox now.  Thanks for suggesting that I write this (you know who you are).

Can you do three good deeds?  How about extending that further afterward?