1. On The Brink
I had a great life - or at least I thought I did. I had a high paying career, a loving family, and a
girlfriend I knew I wanted to marry.
I worked as an assistant marketing director of a small business startup in a small town outside of
Pittsburg. Throughout my whole college career I never really knew where I wanted to go in life
or what I truly wanted to do. So I ended up in business marketing, a career that somehow fit in
with my “don’t know what the hell I am doing” philosophy. It wasn’t a bad job. It was easy and,
as I said before, it paid well.
I also fell in love soon after joining the company. As soon as I landed in Pittsburg, I met my
girlfriend and from that point on our relationship blossomed. Life was really good and I was
happy. But that would all change the day the senior marketing director of the company retired
and my best friend and co-assistant marketing director got the job.
I didn’t hold anything against Tim for getting the promotion; after all, he was better qualified and
he cared more about the company than I did.
Soon after taking over all of marketing, Tim immediately assigned me to be the head of
international marketing, a job that required constant travel. I protested at first as I had never been
the greatest fan of airplanes, but he allayed my worries and convinced me to take the job for the
company’s sake. I took the job. I traveled the world and got to see places I could never have
imagined. It was a rewarding career move.
I came home early from a business trip one weekend and stopped by the florist to pick up a
dozen roses before driving home. I wanted to surprise my girlfriend and take her out for dinner.
We hadn’t had a chance to go out ever since my new job had put me on the road all the time.
When I got home I noticed a car parked outside our little suburban house. I didn’t think much of
it at the time, so I quietly opened the front door and tiptoed around my house looking to surprise
my girlfriend. I heard a noise on the second floor and crept upstairs. When I got to the bedroom,
I slowly opened the door careful as to not disturb my girlfriend if she was taking a nap. When I
saw what was going, I dropped the roses and came to the realization of why I was promoted to a
job that required so much traveling. My girlfriend, the woman I loved above all else, was in bed
with Tim, my best friend and boss.
I flipped out. The two of them tried to explain but I would hear none of it. I went back to my car
and drove into an abyss of depression.
I moved out of the house that weekend and I never talked to her again.
I returned to work the next week because, in all honesty, I still needed the money. When I got to
work, it became quite obvious that everyone in the office knew the whole story. As I sat down at

2. my desk, several of my coworkers came to console me over the horrible pain I was enduring.
They tried to make me feel better by telling me horrible things about the two parties that
wronged me. But when one of my coworkers said, “I’m surprised you did not find out sooner,” I
realized right then and there my coworkers knew that this relationship had been going on for a
long time and that Tim only made me travel so I would be out of the picture. I yelled at my
coworkers demanding how long they knew about this and why no one had the guts to tell me.
These people were my friends - or at least I thought they were - and they just let me be played
like a fool for months as my best friend and the love of my life fooled around behind my back.
At that moment, I gave up. I stood up, left all of my belongings at my desk, left the office, and
never looked back. Everyone that I trusted, everyone that I cared about, lied to me. None of them
thought I deserved honesty. I was done.
The rest of the day I spent in a bar drinking my troubles away. By midnight the bar tender told
me I had to leave but I had drank myself into a stupor. The bartender offered to call me a cab, but
I irreverently refused. I hobbled out to my car only to find a parking ticket - what a wonderful
end to this great day. As I picked up the ticket with intentions of ripping it up before driving off
on a drunken rampage, I noticed something clipped to the back. It was a note along with ten
dollars. The note read: “I hope this made your day a little better, be safe out there, and pass on
the love.”
How could a little note help me take a step back from falling into the abyss of depression? How
could something seemingly so insignificant change my decision from driving drunk to calling a
cab? Not only did the note avert a horrible accident, it changed my life. I was on a path towards
self-destruction when, at that moment, a random act of kindness changed the course of my life.
Everyone who I thought cared about me betrayed me, but a total stranger’s kindness would
change my life beyond my wildest expectations.
I now live in New York City, a place I always wanted to as a child. I moved there a week after
these life altering events. I also returned to school working towards completing my English
degree. I’ve always wanted to be a writer as a teenager but never thought I was good enough.
Now I’m pursuing my dream.
I don’t look back at those days with malice or regret, because I know without a doubt they
changed my life for the better. Those events mixed in with that small act of kindness allowed me
to realize what I truly wanted in life. It made me see that there is good in the world.
I still carry that note in my wallet and read it at least once a day. It reminds me that I have to be
that little act of kindness. It could help save someone.
Every time I see a parking ticket, I leave ten dollars.
Story by: Franklin Baxter
From: USA
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