I picked up Robert a little after 7am on a Monday. I took him to work, because his car was getting some work done. Robert’s story is not necessarily new to me, as I’ve heard a few feel good stories in my three and a half years of rideshare driving, although the exact specifics I hadn’t heard before.
It’s a feel-good story and I always enjoy longer rides that allow these to be shared with me. And I would even go so far as to say it’s a feel-good story with a feel-good future.
At 22 years old, Robert had recently relocated to Tulsa with his fiance and a new job. Like a lot of young couples preparing for a future together, they were taking a few risks and one of those was driving an older truck until they got settled and saved up some money.
One week before their wedding, his fiancee shared with him that she had been seeing somebody else and could no longer do “this”. She broke off the engagement, moved out and away from Tulsa. News like that stunned him, for it was her idea to move to Tulsa, a place where he knew no one. He immediately found himself sinking into a depression that would quickly turn to desperation. He called in at work as a no-show for a few days and just when he thought he could manage a full day of work, the old truck broke down on him. So in less than a week, he lost his woman, his vehicle and eventually his job.
It didn’t take long for him to be evicted, and Robert found himself homeless in a new and unfamiliar town. He stayed in Tulsa migrating around town between shelters and living amongst the homeless for six months. Seeing no upside in continuing this pattern, he managed to scrape up enough money for a bus ticket back to Colorado and moved in with his father.
After several weeks, he took someone’s suggestion and joined the military to regain a sense of responsibility and accountability and even more so just to try to gainsome direction in his life. But six weeks into basic training, he severely injured his foot and after a few weeks of trying to get caught up and be approved to re-join his class, a military doctor concluded that his injury had been worsened by a degenerative bone issue that he had had long before joining the military. So merely 12 weeks into his military career, he found himself back home with his father with another door closed in his face.
But that short time in the military was enough to right his mind and give him a new sense of purpose, and he went to tech school where he became certified to work on circuit boards and that opened the first of several doors moving forward for him. He excelled and was invited to earn certification to build military grade circuit boards. And that led him to his first job, and put him back in Tulsa, of all places.
He said it was weird coming back to Tulsa, but felt like the first time had gone so wrong, that it was fate that he ended up here to help turn his life around. His first job, which wasn’t paying him great compared to his qualification level, served its purpose in the eight months he was there. It actually gave him legit experience in the workforce and more importantly he made a friend who had recently gone through a similar situation of being homeless earlier in his life. And that man led him to church where for the first time he felt spiritual and started to see God at work in his life.
Out of the blue, someone sought him out and offered him a better job with a company making almost twice as much per hour. Now he’s working on military contracts for military grade circuit boards and is making connections in places other than Tulsa. But more importantly, in addition to thriving and being a positive person in today’s society, he has a vision for his future.
At the age of 28, he’s already talking with a man about going out on his own in four to five years and starting his own business working on circuit boards as well as other military grade projects. This friend has some money and other friends who have the money to help him start it up. And he’s already developing plans to give back and help those that suffer what he did for six months.
He explained to me how he wants to help the homeless, the ones that are looking to get out like he was. It won’t be easy, and it may take several forms to be a successful model, but he wants to provide housing and jobs for those homeless that are needing a fresh start and want one. He will hire them and train them to work in his business and then help them save up their money so that at some point in time when they are on their feet, they can go out and get a place of their own and become productive like he eventually did.
This whole “give back” vision he has is straight from God, he said.
“I know its what I’m supposed to do and I want to. I was so lucky to have a few people put in my life to help me, and I want to be that guy for others.”
As we were pulling off the highway and up to his place of work, we were discussing how people will doubt him and tell him that gis plan won’t work. I like what he said before he opened the door to get out. He said, “I know it won’t be easy, but I’m going to try, because if I don’t try to help them, how can I expect them to try and help themselves.”
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