The Shoes Off His Feet

The photo of Oscar and the homeless man that appeared on facebook.

Perhaps this isn't that uncommon a sight in any US city - a homeless man sitting on the edge of a sidewalk eating crackers with a can of soda. And that was what was happening in front of a Metro PCS store in Tampa.

Store manager Oscar Aquino had walked outside the store, perhaps to stretch his own feet, when he noticed the man sitting at the edge of the sidewalk. But there was something about the man that caused him to take action. You see, that man had no shoes and his feet were black and torn up, without any protection.



Now, Oscar was wearing his new Jordan athletic shoes, but he decided to take action. After finding out that the man's shoe size was the same as his, Oscar took off his shoes and gave them to the homeless man. He didn't ask if the man was lazy, he didn't find out whether the man was using drugs, or anything else. He simply asked about the man's shoe size and generously gave away his shoes, an act of kindness, a true Christian gesture, given without any thought of reward or acclaim.

So, how did this act of kindness become so widely known? Around the same time, Carla Rose was taking a break outside from her job at St. Joseph's Hospital, when she, too, spotted the homeless man, with the roughened feet and no shoes. As she watched Mr. Aquino and the homeless man, she was touched by what was transpiring, and she snapped a picture of the transfer of the new shoes to the man sitting on the sidewalk.

And then Carla did what most people do in this electronic age; she posted it on her facebook page. Now, Oscar had no idea that anyone was interested in his private act until his fiancee Keysi Ramos told him that a friend of hers had spotted his picture on facebook. And he told his fiancee about what had happened, "Anyone can end up like that [homeless] one day. I'm blessed that I can buy myself another pair." From one human being who has been so fortunate to another in need. It doesn't get any better than that!

Thanks to this article from Kindness Blog: http://kindnessblog.com/2015/04/17/kindness-captured-in-a-photo-a-man-gives-a-barefoot-homeless-man-his-shoes/; and this report from WFTS Tampa Bay: http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-tampa/random-act-of-kindness-tampa-man-gives-homeless-man-his-shoes-and-its-captured-in-a-photo.

Click here to visit The Wealth Number.

Click here: DIVIDEND TOOLKIT