Archive for June 29th, 2012
Just reward
By definition, altruism seeks no reward. But it’s always satisfying to hear of someone’s unselfish deed bringing them good fortune.
Thirty-year-old Delroy Simmonds from Brooklyn, who had been unemployed for more than a year, was on his way to a job interview, earlier this week, when he saw a baby stroller roll onto subway train tracks. Mother of four, Mrs Zamara, preoccupied with her other three kids failed to notice that she hadn’t put the brakes on, and that the wind had blown nine-month-old Daniel’s stroller into the path of an oncoming train. Quick-thinking father-of-two Mr Simmonds jumped onto the tracks and rescued the toddler just in time. Sadly, as a result of the incident he missed his interview. But another potential employer – Guy Rodriquez, of ABM Janitorial Services, at Kennedy Airport – heard of the heroic act and the following day hired him as a maintenance worker. Mr Simmonds’ new boss says that the incident showed that he had “heart…character…[and] a very good attitude”, by acting without hesitation. Although the new job (which starts in two weeks’ time) will pay only $9.50 an hour, Mr Rodriguez apparently expects that before long his latest recruit will qualify as a supervisor. And meanwhile an online fundraising campaign has started, to reward Delroy for his selflessness. (Update, 11 August 2012 – this campaign seems to have vanished over the horizon now.)
