Helping Each Other

Many years ago, a client of mine shared an experience she had which touched me so much I want to share it again. 

She was on her way to a shopping center, in the hopes of unwinding from a very stressful couple of days. She was on a frontage road that has a lot of traffic, but no houses, shops or gas stations close to the road, when all of the sudden her car died. Fortunately, she was able to coast over to the side of the road and mostly out of the way of passing cars. When she looked in her purse for her cell phone to call for help, she realized she had left her phone on the charger at home.

A recent knee injury prevented her from walking to the closest gas station, so she sat there, trying to figure out what to do, all the while hoping that one of the passing cars may stop to help her. For over twenty minutes, she sat there while car after car drove by but not a single person stopped to see if she needed help. She even noticed that people seemed to avoid looking her way, as if they didn't want to be bothered and thought it would be easier to pretend they didn't see her.

She was beginning to feel really discouraged when seemingly out of nowhere a homeless man walked up to her car and asked her if she needed any help. He told her he had seen her sitting there from a little ways down the road and wanted to make sure she was OK. When she explained that her car died but that she didn't have a phone and thus couldn't call AAA for assistance, he said that one of his friends had a cell phone and offered to go find him. She couldn't believe how generous he was being but she welcomed the help. 

The man walked far out into a nearby field until he found his friend and returned with both his friend and the phone. When she called AAA she was told it could be an hour, or possibly two hours before anyone could get there. It looked like this was going to be a very long day.

After returning the phone to the one man, they asked if she knew what was wrong with her car. She told them she was likely out of gas (one of her children often drove her car without bothering to put gas back in it) and she was pretty sure that if she could just get some gas in her car, there was a good chance she'd be able to drive home. 

The homeless gentleman with the phone mentioned that he also had a bike and offered to ride over to the nearest gas station to get some gas for her. She was shocked that he offered to help her this way yet she was equally grateful. She offered to pay him for his time and also gave him money to buy some gas (as well as purchase a gas can). Not only did he agree to do all of this for her but when he returned with the gas, he gave her the receipt as well as her change, which made her feel even more respect toward these kind strangers. 

After putting the gas in her car, it started right up. They waited to make sure her car was in running order, then the man let her use his phone again to cancel the AAA tow truck. She gave them both additional money as an expression of her gratitude and made sure they knew how deeply she appreciated their help and their kindness. Rather than proceeding to the shopping center, she decided to go home.

The experience had put her in a different frame of mind . . . no longer feeling the need to de-stress by wandering around the Mall, instead she chose to focus on the deep gratitude she felt in her heart that these men went out of their way to help her the way they did. She said she was still shocked by all the people who drove by didn't give her the time of day, but that the two homeless men were the ones who stepped forward and went above and beyond to help her.

Her story shined a spotlight on the fact that no matter how little you may have, it is still possible to profoundly help someone else. It is also a beautiful reminder for us all not to judge a book by its cover.