Past, Present and Future

Grandad

Write about a time when you or someone you know acted selflessly. What was the motivation and what were the results?

I first thought of all the wonderful acts of selflessness that are going on in the world now. There are some absolutely wonderful people out there.

Then I thought that I would go back in time.

The late sixties, I was an 8-year-old and I used to spend a lot of weekends with my nan and grandad. All kids know that if you want to be spoilt, go to bed late and eat whatever you want then you had to spend time with your grandparents!

My dad played football with me and taught me how to ride a bike, but my grandad had a car. And when it was just the two of us, he would let me ride with him in the front. I thought that I was the bee’s knees. Nobody else in the family had a car at that time so riding with my grandad was a big thing for me.

After staying with them for one- or two-nights grandad would drive me home. He had a Ford Prefect and it was two tone blue. Very swish.

It was a two-mile ride and when we got halfway we would go past a bus stop. The bus would take people to the hospital to visit their friends and family. When grandad approached that bus stop, he would always look to see if there was anyone standing waiting for the bus. If there was, he would stop and offer them a ride to the hospital.

He would quite often take a stranger to the hospital before he dropped me off at home. Luckily, I lived opposite the hospital! My grandad carried out that small act of selflessness any time he could. He always told me that he imagined one of his family standing at a cold, wet bus stop and hoped that someone would offer us a ride.

I don’t suppose it would happen now. The world was a lot more innocent in the sixties, or maybe it just appeared to be.