Today You, Tomorrow Me
One of the most iconic posts on Reddit is known as “Today You, Tomorrow Me”.
The post was written 12 years ago and in response to an Ask Reddit question: “Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker?”
In the post, a person named u/rhoner explains why one incident convinced him to try to give a helping hand whenever he could:
- During one period, u/rhoner experienced a lot of car problems and was disappointed in the lack of help from other people (such as passers by and gas station attendants).
- In the incident that changed everything, he blew out a car tire and the only person that stopped to help was a Mexican immigrant who had “his whole family of 6 in tow”
- The Mexican immigrant was likely a wage labourer but still put aside 4 hours of his day to help fix u/rhoner’s car
As a thank you, u/rhoner secretly slipped the family a $20 bill.
Here is where the story hits hard:
“But we aren't done yet. I thank them again and walk back to my car and open the foil on the tamale [they gave me] cause I am starving at this point and what do I find inside? My fucking $20 bill! I whirl around and run up to the van and the guy rolls his window down. He sees the $20 in my hand and just shaking his head no like he won't take it.
All I can think to say is "Por Favor, Por Favor, Por Favor" with my hands out. Dude just smiles, shakes his head and, with what looked like great concentration, tried his hardest to speak to me in English:
"Today you.... tomorrow me."
In the 5 months since I have changed a couple of tires, given a few rides to gas stations and, once, went 50 miles out of my way to get a girl to an airport. I won't accept money. Every time I tell them the same thing when we are through:
"Today you.... tomorrow me."
It’s an incredible story (even Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian says it’s his favorite Reddit post).
Anyways, I mention it because someone blessed me with a “today you, tomorrow me” moment last weekend.
I was at the library with my son. After grabbing some books, I sat down in one of the kid’s chairs and felt a pop in my lower back. I had experienced this pain before: during my 20s, I injured my lumbar region on many occasions while trying to be a hero on deadlifts.
This instance didn’t feel as bad at first, so I shook it off and we walked back towards our car. However, after 10 meters, my lower back completely gave out and I crumpled to the ground. My son thought I was joking and started laughing.
An older lady quickly came by and asked if everything was OK. It wasn’t. I had sprained a muscle in my lower back and literally was unable to stand up.
My car was so close, though. Like 30 meters away. I asked her to just help my kid with his library books while I crawled to the car. And there I was, literally crawling on all fours past dozens of people on a busy street, which caused a lot of confusion (and my kid was still laughing).
However, the pain became so excruciating that I couldn’t make it. Next step: the lady called her husband, who drove down to the scene and proceeded to grab my car and drive it to where I was laid out.
This couple had zero reason to assist me, but they did: burning an hour of their Saturday morning to help a complete stranger and his kid get back to their car.
When I pulled myself into the car, I thanked them and asked if I could get their phone number. The lady said “it’s, ok, you’ve got the next one.”
Translation: "Today you.... tomorrow me."
Luckily, the position of my driver seat was actually manageable for my spine, so I gingerly drove the car home before my wife helped me into the house (at this point, my son was no longer laughing and understood the situation; but he did start calling me "Mr. Owwwie Man", which is objectively hilarious).
As of this email send, I’m pretty close back to normal. But why am I telling this story? Because my life has become so digital that it has been ages since I’ve had such random in-real-life interactions. The couple’s generosity was a salient reminder that people will sacrifice and help a complete stranger — who they will likely never meet again — with no expectation of anything in return other than "Today you.... tomorrow me."
Perhaps more importantly, there is incredible bank security footage out there of me looking like Leonardo DiCaprio from “The Wolf of Wall Street” after taking too many Quaaludes.
