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As I took this photo, a white guy, maybe 40-years-old, rode by on a bike, got off and proceeded to pick up several pounds of paper trash and put it in the recycle bin. It took him a couple of minutes to do this. In all my years in various cities, I've never seen such a spontaneous act of volunteerism.

This incident reminds me of my friend Mike. Before he died smoking in his sleep, Mike lived only two blocks from this scene. One time, a guy hit another with a brick near Mike's house. Hearing about this, Mike went to the site and found the victim's denture, which had apparently fallen out from the force of the blow. Nice guy that he was, Mike went to the hospital and returned it to its owner.

I met Mike when I saw condoms on a table in front of his house. Mike had placed them there for strangers, he said. When I remarked that they seemed kind of old, he went inside to get a fresh batch, including strawberry flavored ones. "Has anyone taken them?" I asked. "Only two," he responded, "but I've only had them out a week." As a woman walked by, Mike yelled, "Do you want a condom?"



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