Michael Evans was standing in line at a Treasurer's Office in Detroit last August, waiting for his business. At that moment, he heard a 1sound ahead of him. The elderly woman at the window was 2because she couldn't pay $5,000 in back taxes owed(欠交税款). The cashier 3the woman that her house was soon to be auctioned(拍卖) and she would be left 4
Evans, a successful businessman who happened to hear their dialogue couldn't 5the idea of this woman losing her home. He 6the window. “I don't mean to 7,”he said to the cashier, “but8you can get her house back, I'll pay for her taxes.”
The woman in tears and the cashier looked at him 9in disbelief. Then, the cashier left for a moment to check the 10and that it was all right for Evans to pay it. Evans 11 to go straight to the bank and come right back with the money. And he did so.
But when he 12,he asked someone else waiting in line to hand the $5,000 check to the cashier. Quietly and secretly, Evans was trying to leave 13.”I don't want this attention,” he explained. 14paying the elderly woman's taxes, he did it” for no other15but to make sure the lady was in her house.”
A few weeks after the tax 16, Evans received the Spirit of Detroit Award for his lifetime of generosity. “It was good to see my dad finally get the recognition he deserves. I 17my life after him. When I have kids, I want them to look at me the way I look at my dad and to be18to those in need.” his son says.
Martin Luther King put it best, “Everybody can be great because anybody can 19.” When one of us can 20someone's pain and can do something to improve the lives of others, we should. It is in giving of ourselves that we enrich our communities and make a better world.
