Sometimes help comes from the most unexpected places.
José is a waiter, something he's been doing for most of his adult life. While waiters in those fancy restaurants can make six figure incomes, José didn't work in one of those. Instead, he worked in a small café where the food is simple but good and where everyone, as the saying goes, knows your name.
As you might imagine, José is not wealthy person. So life is difficult sometimes. But it is especially difficult in the food industry, what with the competition from other cafés, not to mention the fast food places. José didn't even own a car. But that didn't deter him from being a caring person and he enjoyed the work he did.
As a waiter, José gets to meet a lot of people. Some are nice and some are not. One of José's regular customers is Kimo. Kimo comes in once a week with a few friends just before their Elks Club meeting. The first time Kimo came in José took an immediately liking to him.
So week after week and month after month Kimo and friends would come for dinner before going to the club to provide speech therapy services to youngsters to help them overcome their speech impediments. Something he and the club did for free as a way of giving back to the community. When José found out what they did, he knew for sure that these were some of the nice ones.
Then one day, Kimo didn't come in. So José asked the friends where was Kimo? The friends told him of how Kimo had to go to the mainland to have some medical tests done. For you see, Kimo was not well. In fact, his kidneys were failing and he needed a transplant. The good news was that he was a good candidate for the life saving operation. The bad news was that there is a continuing shortage of people willing to donate a kidney. Therefore, Kimo would probably be dead before his name made it to the top of the list. The further bad news was that Kimo's blood type was relatively rare so it would be difficult to match someone, even if there was a kidney available.
That got José to thinking. He felt he had a choice to make. A choice only for him. He pondered the choice and what it would mean. He stood at that crossroad and saw two clear paths. Danger lurked on one of them like a panther waiting to pounce. The other was wide open and seemingly safe. Then he made his decision.
A week later, Kimo was back at his regular table at the café - a little worse for wear and a somewhat tired from his trip, not to mention his circumstances. But when José walked up to Kimo to take his dinner order, Kimo got the second shock of his life. José asked him if he wanted to have one of José's kidneys.
To say Kimo was stunned would be an understatment. Why would someone, even someone you see once a week, be willing to literally give part of themselves to save your life? Knowing full well that no operation is routine and a kidney transplant is by no means without danger to the donor. We may never know for sure, but José felt he had been led to that crossroad and that, in either case, it was the right thing to do.
So José was tested and against staggering odds, he was a perfect match. Shortly thereafter, the operation was performed and Kimo was made whole again and was soon ready to return to helping the kids.
Some would say it was just a coincidence that Kimo first came to that café. That is was just a coincidence that he chose the specific table that José waited on. That it was just random chance that Kimo was willing to help the way he did.
But to tell you the truth, I don't believe that. I hope mankind is more than a minuscule boat buffeted by the winds and waves of chance. That all is not chaos. I don't believe people do whatever they do based solely on greed or self-interest. I think if we keep our eyes and hearts open, we can sometimes see the unseen patterns that betray the underlying plan. A plan that can, if we choose that path, lead to a better place.
