It is encounters like the one that 21-year-old Morgan Wheeler had with a disabled veteran that keep any shred of faith in humanity alive for me. You see, Morgan was just about to pull out of her parking space at a Wal-Mart in Fayetteville, WV when she had to wait for a man in a wheelchair to pass by. She noticed the man was missing his right leg from the knee down. What happened next is truly inspirational.
Morgan says in her Facebook post of the encounter that the man was also wearing:
“…what appeared to be, old, government issued, combat boots. He was (from my guess) in his late sixties/early seventies and seemed to be stopping to take a break.”
As the man waved in an apologetic manner for her to continue, the 21-year-old Morgan, backed up and turned off her car. She then got out and introduced herself. It’s at this point that Morgan asked him if he needed any help with his shopping. Morgan says he, “quite grumpily,” said he was fine and only needed help to the door as she began to push him.
During the push to the doors, Morgan says she continued to talk with him about her life. Once they reached the doors, Morgan says she:
“…continued to push him and talk. We reached the produce area and I asked him to tell me about himself. He reluctantly looked at me and began telling me that he lived in Sod- Lincoln County, and that he just recently lost his wife. I asked him if he was a veteran, to which he replied that he was- but with pain on his face, so I changed the subject and asked if he had made a shopping list. He handed me a list with only four things on it: peanut butter, soup, bread, and bananas.”
From here, Morgan proceeded to show a selflessness for a disabled veteran in need that I wish more of us had. After finding out the man had hitchhiked to the store, Morgan writes:
“So I called a taxi for him and grabbed the essentials plus a few other things and put them in the cart. After placing a gallon of milk in his cart he was crying. People were passing by us, looking sideways at him. I knelt down and asked him what was wrong and he replied, that I ‘was doing far too much for an old man that I barely knew.’ I told him that where I am from, and from the family I was raised in, we help one another, no matter the task and that I had never met a stranger. I also told him that he deserved everything I was doing for him because he fought for my freedom and sacrificed so much.”
After waiting with him for the cab, and paying for it, they said their goodbyes. Morgan says she went back to her car and cried. In a time where veterans seem to be literally fighting for their lives once they get home, Morgan sums it up quite well by writing:
“This is the world we live in today. How many people passed him and would have continued to pass him while he struggled? How many people are willing to give their money to Vanity Fair to read all about Bruce Jenner and not help a veteran pay for his groceries? Today was a truly humbling experience for me, and I consider myself extremely blessed to have the capability of understanding what is truly important in this world. THAT man was a HERO, and far too many will say otherwise”.
