Friday, January 05, 2007

Strangers

Today I'm grateful for

The kindness of strangers.

As an example (and this is not the only example I can pull from -- just the most recent), last night I was leaving work late (10:30) after a long day. It was coldish (mid 40s) and raining. Dank, dark, and dreary. I hopped into minivan and turned the key ... "click." not good. Turned the key again "click" and noticed the clock was on the wrong time. I grab the cellphone to call Spouse to tell him I'll be a while as I'll hang around and wait for AAA (another thing to be thankful for) when I noticed two guys in front of the pizza shop next to my store. I'm like, hey I can sit here and wait 45 minutes for AAA so I'm not completely stuck -- BUT does anyone mind. Amazingly enough of *4* yes count them *4* cars there only one had jumper cables. (I was given a moment's hesitation when I couldn't find the cables in my car -- as I told the pizza guy "I might be getting divorced tomorrow" sometimes Spouse "helps" me by cleaning out my car and then removes all the stuff that isn't "necessary" but I did find the cables in a moment).

So, the nice young man helped me out (even got the jumper onto the positive post of my battery - really bad design on Honda's part had to put a cable on), we attached the cables, he turned on his pickup, and then I hopped into Minivan, click, brrrrrrooooom.

Taking a moment to help a stranger can really make someone's day. It's a good thing to keep in mind in our workaday rushaday world.

2 comments:

Alto2 said...

This follows my guiding principle, "If you've had a kindness shown, pass it on." Sort of like paying it forward. You do lots of nice things for people, so someone did something nice for you. Glad you didn't get stuck out in the dark and dreary night.

MLL said...

I'm glad you got it fixed! In my experience, the vast majority of people you will come across are good, helpful and well-meaning. Its one of the main reasons I balk at teaching my children that most "grown-ups" (especially men) are out to abuse them, kidnap them, hurt them, steal from them, etc.....and feel sad that so many of us believe that we are constantly in danger and are surprised when someone actually helps them.