Free to a good home

So, after trying to sell those Deftones concert tickets all week, and most of the day today--see the post immediately before this one--I did something crazy with them.

After lowering the price of the tickets on Craigslist this afternoon, I got this e-mail:

If no1 will buy em ill take em 4 free so they don't go 2 waste. If u r a trusting person ill even give u an I.O.U. & hook u up w the $ n a couple wks when I get paid next, but I jus put every dime I have n my gas tank. I know it's a long shot, but figured I'd throw it out there.
--Jon

Something about this e-mail got to me. So I called the phone number Jon included in his e-mail and told him he could have the tickets. For free. I think he thought I was kidding at first, because he sounded kind of like he was in shock. "Really?" he said. "Yep," I told him. "And you don't have to owe me any money, either. Just pay it forward to someone else somewhere down the road."

Even though I was out more than $115.00, giving the tickets to Jon made me feel really good inside. Here's someone who desperately wanted to go to the show, but he didn't have the money. I had spent the money in January, so it was gone long ago. I figured, Why not make a stranger happy and, at the same time, let them know that there are still kind and generous people in the world?

When Jon and his friend came to pick up the tickets, they were incredibly grateful. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," Jon told me as I handed him the tickets. I'm not sure if it's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for him, but I'm pretty sure it might be one of the nicest. And, to top it off? Jon promised me he'd pay it forward.

Today I took a negative and I reframed it, turning it into a positive. It was a good feeling. And it was a good day.
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Postscript: It's the morning after the concert, and I just got this e-mail from Jon:

Thanks again 4 the tix!!! We had a freekin blast!!!