Shirley had always dreamt of a perfect wedding with plenty of flowers and exquisite decorations with pearls and shimmering golden laces everywhere. The wedding would be complete only when all her friends and family enjoyed the event enjoying the lavish dinner laid out for them. She came from a middle-class family and knew a wedding of this magnitude would be difficult for her family to sponsor.
The turn of eventsShirley worked hard at her workplace and ensured that she and her beau had enough funds for the fairytale wedding of her dreams. The event management team was contacted, and the venue finalized when suddenly everything had to change. It was almost an insignificant incident that changed Shirley's perception about life.
It was after 9 pm that Shirley stepped out of her office building when she noticed a frail female figure couched near the parking curb. Not knowing what to do she stood still near the figure and then on an impulse she called out asking, "Mam, are you all right?"
The answer was almost a whimper saying, "Help me please?" and soon after the woman seemed to have passed out. Shirley immediately dialed the emergency number for the ambulance that arrived in about 7 minutes. She decided to follow the lady to the hospital after she had given a call to her beau.
On reaching the hospital, she completed the formalities and waited for the doctors to let her know about the unknown lady's condition. It was well past midnight when the doctor on duty finally declared the patient to be out of danger though he said that she would be able to speak only the next morning.
Jerry had responded to Shirley's call and arrived at the hospital within half an hour of getting Shirley's call. Both remained there until morning to learn about who the lady was and what exactly happened. After all, though she was not dressed richly, she was neither a shabby beggar.
The next morning, when the doctor finally permitted Shirley and Jerry to talk to her, she only responded with tears rolling down her cheek in answer to who she was and what had happened. It was after a lot of comforting that the lady finally gathered herself and spoke.
She and her husband had worked all their lives to bring up their two daughters. While the elder one was settled in another city, the younger one who was always a little weak of health and had to be taken care of. Finally, she had found love and was to be married off next week.
The lady had come to the bank to withdraw almost all of her and her husband's lives savings from the bank and buy the wedding ring. She was returning home to the Metro when she was pushed from behind with some blows reigning on her, and her handbag snatched away from her. She must have remained unconscious for some time before Shirley spotted her.
As the woman wept wondering what would happen to her daughter's wedding, Shirley found tears welling up in her eyes. After all, who other than her knew what a wedding meant to a girl. She walked out of the room with Jerry in tow and said, "I want to help them."
"Sure, we can help them. Let us cut out the extravagance out of our wedding and contribute to this poor lady's daughter's wedding," said Jerry. "Yes, we'll definitely do that. Why don't we keep the wedding to the basics and donate the rest to an organization that is dedicated to helping others in need?" You know what, I know a volunteer that works for Humanity Help. Why don't we talk to them?" Both agreed and went in and asked the woman if she would mind if her daughter and they both got married together and they shared the expenses. All the poor lady could do is nod with tears of gratitude running down her cheek.
