Let me tell you about the kind-hearted Modesto stranger who cares for his community | Opinion

You know who you are.

You come to the Safeway on McHenry Avenue in Modesto very early every morning.

Every morning? Well, as it turns out, every morning that school is in session. And you buy the same items every time: a case of bottled water, a bunch of bananas and several boxes of granola bars. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why?”

Opinion

The first time I noticed you, you wore jeans, a plaid shirt and boots. You were tall, handsome in a rugged way and your bristly gray hair had definitely been combed but somehow had a mind of its own.

You looked like you belonged on the screen, six-gun in hand, leading a posse after the bad guys in one of the westerns I remembered from my childhood Saturday afternoons spent at the Strand Theatre.

One defining characteristic? Your smile. A hundred-watt smile that not only lit up your face but seemed to inhabit the space around you and extend to everyone you encountered on your early morning foray around the store. One notices that kind of smile. That kind of smile means something. And it’s not easily forgotten.

My day at Safeway begins on the sidewalk out front, clearing debris and then sweeping and mopping. I noticed you as you drove up in your immaculately clean and polished big black truck.

As you jumped out, you gripped a spray bottle and a rag in one hand. One of our homeless regulars hurried over and took those items from you as you continued into the store.

I watched as this disheveled man sprayed the over-sized mag wheels of your truck and meticulously polished each one. “What’s going on here?” I mused. My musing was answered when you returned, smiled at the untidy man, took the bottle and rag back and handed him a $5 bill.

This transaction occurred every morning. You planned for this to happen. Not a demeaning, anonymous handout, but a generous and dignified means of one person honoring another.

Among the staff, we talked about you. Eventually, we learned that you are a teacher at the continuation high school in Modesto. The treats — all healthy, by the way — were for your students. Every day? Yes. Every single day. We wondered, “Does he get reimbursed?”

Or, more likely we decided, he does this out of the goodness of his own heart. Again, one person honoring others without any thought of the cost.

We missed you during the pandemic. Schools shut down. Routines were obliterated. We wondered if we would ever see you again.

Then, the very first day that schools reopened, there you were. A different ride — you were not driving the big truck, but a small hybrid, I think. It was black and immaculately clean and shiny. The same “cowboy,” but on a brand-new horse.

In “The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, we read: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. That which is essential is invisible to the eye.”

That statement is the soul of this timeless little book chronicling the journey of one small, lonely, innocent child’s search for friends.

And, largely, I think the quote is true.

But, in getting to know you, I’ve learned that there are exceptions. There are those who make “that which is essential” visible. Without effort or pretense of any kind, people like you allow us to see what is essential. It’s right there before our very eyes. In you.

And I know this much: People who make the essential meaning of life visible are rare.

Fred, you know who you are.

Bunny Stevens lives in Modesto, her hometown, and has served on The Modesto Bee Community Advisory Board. She is the opening courtesy clerk at the Safeway supermarket on McHenry Avenue and an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. She has also been known to represent the Easter Bunny and Santa’s Elf for children of all ages. Reach her at BunnyinModesto@gmail.com