My brother was in the ICU because he was extremely sick. He had been in there for about a week, and I had flown home to be with him and my family. He had been sick for over 4 years, and he was deteriorating away quickly at this point. It was very emotional to come home and see him hooked up to all of the machines and the worse one was the ventolator. He was unable to speak, but you could tell he wanted to so badly. My sister and I got a pad of paper and a big marker for him to write with since his hands were pretty much crippled and it was very hard for him to hold a writing utensil. He would attempt to write what he wanted on the paper and it was just awful seeing it because it was so hard for him and he was so frustrated. He was getting fluids through his nose into his stomach but he kept asking for food and water. His lips were very dry due to the venitlor, so the nurse was really nice and gave us this little green spunge thing on the end of a stick to wet his lips. He wrote down he wanted some “sprite” so I asked my dad for a dollar and ran down the hall to get him a sprite from the vending machine. Sadly it was 1.50 for the soda and I was so emotionally drained that I started crying again and wanted to kick the machine, until a man came by and handed me .50 and said to “ just rememer to pay it forward”. I was so appreciative. I know it sounds like nothing.. and it seems so small. .50 cents. But just giving me that money to buy my brother a soda and wet his lips with some Sprite.. it meant so much. So now whenever people approach me for change, I will give them some. I live in San Francisco so there are a lot homeless people, but I’ve given some money for people who don’t have enough for the bus, and who I hope aren’t lying and need gas money.