A NYC Cop Bought $100 Boots for a Homeless Man With Bare Feet

On November 14th the mean streets of New York were ambushed by a cold front that took the temperatures down near the freezing point. Lawrence DePrimo, a 25-year-old NYPD officer was on patrol in Times Square that night. While on patrol he saw a homeless man with bare feet sitting on the sidewalk. Even though he had on two pair of socks on under his police issue boots the officer noticed his feet were cold and he could not imagine what the man on the street was feeling.

Officer DePrimo went into a nearby Sketchers store and picked out a pair of $100 boots.  When the clerk found out what Lawrence was doing, he used his employee discount so Lawrence only had to pay $75. Then he went back outside and gave them to the homeless guy.  A tourist from Arizona happened to see the whole thing, took a photo, and posted it on the police department's Facebook page. And since then, it's gotten nearly 500,000 likes.

Is it the season that brings out a story like this? Is it the time of the year that brings out a random act of kindness in such a unkind place?  Christmas is almost here and it is a time when we all smile a little easier, laugh a little louder and give a little more. It's a shame that these kind of stories only make the headlines at Christmas time. It's a shame this is the only time of the year that we see stories like this in the news.

I say we should take this story and use it as an example of what kind of people we should strive to be. Not just for a month out of the year, but all year round. What would our world be like if we all took care of each other rather than stare at the street when we pass the poverty stricken, hungry and homeless. Wake up people. As we learned in 2008 with the hit of the recession, next year it could be you or someone you know that is living on the streets without shoes.