I work in a town with a large assembly plant. I was riding my bicycle with my daughter one day in a fairly affluent neighborhood a long way away from our house and my bicycle broke down. A man came almost immediately riding up on a motorized bicycle down the road and saw me struggling with my bike (years ago so I can’t exactly remember what broke).

He hopped off the bike and came up and immediately checked on us. He appeared older and pretty worn down, was super thin, and almost homely looking. He saw my issue and went back to his motorized bike and pulled out a tool bag from a duffle bag in the bike’s rear basket and spent 10 minutes fixing my bike. I tried and tried to pay him and he would not accept. I asked about his bike and he said he lost his license years ago due to bad DUI decisions and has been riding that for quite some time. He was wearing a reflective vest with the logo of a supplier/ contractor at the factory in town that hires people at barely above minimum wage for pretty crappy work and based off the time of day it was clear he had just left that job and was riding home. He left without payment and told us it was his pleasure to help.

I was blown away by his generosity and also really ashamed of myself because had I seen him in any other situation, just passively observing him, I knew in my heart That I would have assumed the worst about his life and character based on his appearance.

That interaction still to this day makes me grateful and also reminds me to not judge a book by its cover.