Months before he died of cancer in 1993, Jim Valvano gave a rousing speech in which he said, amongst numerous remarkably memorable quotes:

“There are three things we should do every day. #1 is laugh. You should laugh every day. #2 is think. You should spend some time in thought. And #3 is you should have your emotions move you to tears. Think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that’s a full day.”

Now, I know that #3 is somewhat of an example of hyperbole, but the sentiment is Swarovski crystal clear:  Do things that matter.

Sometimes we forget that. I do. More often that I would like.  I would like to believe I have a gentle heart, but thinking I have one and showing people I have one is the difference between a tall glass of Blue Moon and a pint of bathwater.

This thought was bouncing around my head like a racquetball when I moved to Austin three weeks ago. I was driving around with an hour to kill before signing papers on my condo and pulled up to a stop sign near an on-ramp for I35. That’s when I saw this homeless guy and his dog. I looked twice not because of his condition, but because he seemed to be right around my age.

And 33 is way too young to throw your hands in the air and become BFF with desperation.

This was my thought process:

“I should help him.”

“I should help him.”

“I wonder if his dog is hungry.”

“ I wonder if he’s hungry.”

“Don’t homeless people make like $12 an hour.”

“I should help him.”

“Fuck, that dog is cute.”

“I wonder if he just borrowed it make his begging more impactful.”

And with that, I put foot to gas pedal and hit the on ramp, certain that he would use whatever money I would have given to him to buy vodka.

Which is precisely what I did an hour after I moved in.