• toynbee@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    When I was a kid in the nineties, I had a book of urban legends. One of them was about a couple who happened to encounter him in a broken down car and help him out, only to find out he had later anonymously paid off their mortgage. It’s interesting sometimes to reflect on that story.

      • toynbee@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yeah, I’m not as fascinated with urban legends as I was when I was a nineties kid, but I have heard iterations of this story with various celebrities. This one stuck with me I guess because I didn’t know who it was at the time and had to ask my parents. A similar situation came up with a comic about female models in a Mother Goose and Grimm collection.

        The reason the referenced story is interesting to reflect on (for me) isn’t because of its content in its entirety but because of the part that portrays the individual as someone with integrity and generosity rather than the person he has shown himself to be. I could still theoretically believe the story if it were of Bill Gates or other celebrities the first time I read it.