Tuesday 2 June 2015

Paying it Forward, By Paying Me

Okay, so I called the guy who hit me yesterday and asked if he had the money. He told me that he didn’t and that shortly after we last talked in January that he lost his job due to the downturn in the oil industry. 

He said that he was on some sort of disability (I didn’t go into it) and asked if he could make payments of some kind and so I agreed. I have the room on a credit card to pay for this damage so I will charge it to a card pay it and then pay that card off first. This will take at least two months to do, so either by the end of July or August this damage will be paid for. 

I will budget that he is not going to pay me back and treat any money he gives me as extra and try to put it right into savings. I can and will get through this, but this is the situation which will push me paying off the dreaded Card #3 until October or November.

I still don’t want to be a jerk but this leaves me paying for something that is not my fault. On one hand I almost want to tell the guy not to bother, that he has bigger issues to deal with. If I did that, however, that would come across as pity from me and an insult to him and his pride. 

I understand the need to pay back a debt, that honour must be satisfied. I know that he wants to, as he left me a note when he could have just driven off. He has not tried to negotiate or be a jerk about the cost of the repairs or what he should pay for or what he shouldn’t. 

This got me thinking . . . what if I was able to crowdfund the cost of the repairs? That way I could say that others paid the debt for him and it would be help from others and yet this debt would still be paid. 

If for any reason there is extra money raised then I will simply give that to him. I am doing okay and just want to try to help a fellow human being out. I haven’t met him and only talked to him on the phone a few times, but I just want to do the right thing. 

For me, taking money from an unemployed guy is not right, and neither is insulting his pride by telling him not to bother. Even worse would be to report it to the insurance company and have them go after him for the cash . . . sure Wanda would get fixed but he would get shredded. So if you feel motivated please donate to fix Wanda, and in so doing, help someone out who is down on his luck. 

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