Over the past few years I have been given the opportunity to work in many different towns and cities. In 2010, I was placed in Mumbai, India a city home to more than 25million residents. India was packed to the max, always someone yelling,always someone beating around making loud noise. Being in Mumbai I realized the meaning to the saying sometimes used for busy cities “this city never sleeps”. That saying was very much true, alive and well in Mumbai. Fast forward to today, I have been working in West Texas since Mid-September and have worked around a small town called Mentone, Texas in Loving County. My main purpose in Mentone is to stop at the only place to get food at for 40 miles in either direction.
The other day my company needed me to file a police report due to a missing piece of equipment. I reported to the Loving County Sheriffs office in Mentone to deal with this missing piece of equipment. I realized the town was small but I didn’t realize how small. As I spoke with the sheriff I questioned him about Loving county and the town of Mentone. “Sheriff, how many people live in Mentone?” I asked Sheriff Hopper. Hopper an older gentleman on the brink of retirement following the month of December replied “Ahhh well I believe in the town of Mentone I think the population is 18”. We continued talking and Hopper informed me that Loving County covers 640 square miles of Texas with a total county population of 82. Following my talk with Sheriff Hopper I conducted my own research and found that Loving County is also the richest county in Texas out of 252 counties. Sheriff Hopper could have easily bragged and been proud to be the richest county in Texas but he chose to speak on the people of the county and of the town.
Myself and Sheriff Hopper talked for quite a few minutes, he didn’t seem to want to let me leave his office and continued talking every chance I tried to leave ( I mean population 18, can’t blame the guy). Sheriff Hopper was happy to see a new face in his town showing much interest and took great pride in such a small area. After talking for a good bit I shook Hoppers hand and wished him a happy retirement as I went on my way.

Last night December 6th I was in Monahans, Texas and stopped by a gas station for a minute. As I got out of the truck I left the parking lights on considering I wouldn’t be in the store longer than a minute or two. As I was going into the store a young man with a back pack and dirty clothes sat on the ground near the entrance with a notebook open facing upward where people walking by could read it. As I walked by I never turned to look down at the young man as I continued into the store. I got what I needed from the store and began out the door back to my truck, I walked past the young man, him not saying a word I caught a glimpse of the notebook laying on the ground with the words “Anything Will Help” written in black sharpie marker. I took about another five or six steps before I froze in my tracks. I turned and looked at the young man who appeared he hadn’t showered or anything in quite sometime and his clothes could use a visit to the washer and dryer. He looked at me with a look of “What does this guy want” as I began walking back towards him. With him still sitting on the ground and his camouflage back pack sitting beside him I leaned over and asked him if he was hungry and would like something to eat. He said yes he was hungry but did not have any money to spare for food. I asked him what he wanted to eat from inside the store, he replied  “just a small $1 burrito will be fine sir”. I looked through the store window and inside was a Subway restaurant. I asked him  ‘Do you eat subway’ he replied with a head nod and his eyes lit up. I told him to come with me inside the store and I would get him something to eat. As we stood in line, the puzzled looks on peoples face was priceless as a young man clean and freshly showered stood in line at subway beside what appeared to be a hobo. Even the lady making the Subway sandwich was very confused as to what was going on. As we waited for his Subway to be prepared we talked and he told me his name was Robbie and that he came to West Texas from South Dakota looking for work and fell upon hard luck and was going through a hard time in life. Robbie stated that he hopes to have work coming up this week that he had spoken with a few people around town and he had some job leads. I wished Robbie good luck with his job search and hoped he has a Merry Christmas. He walked back outside of the store and sat down in his same position, only this time with a smile, a foot long Subway sandwich complete with chips and a drink.

Be thankful for what you have because there are many people in this world who only have the clothes on their back and a simple hello could mean the world to them. I also asked Robbie to when he sees another in need to do as I done for him, just lend a hand and #PayItForward.

I had been thinking to myself over the past couple of weeks about starting a blog and I finally got around to it. I do a lot of traveling and don’t do the whole post a life story on Facebook so I figured this would simplify things. So I am going to give this thing a try and see where it goes from here