Tags
acts of random kindness, brotherhood, charity, damsels in distress, helping hand, Hitchhiking, out of gas, strangers
“In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”
-Douglas Adams
Sometimes, people will step outside of their box, and surprise the hell out of you. This time, it was my wife, January. What did she do? She, “OMG”, picked up a hitchhiker, with our two and a half year old daughter in the car to boot!
A few weeks ago, I was at work, and she had sent me a text asking if I could come and rescue her. Evidently the “Low Fuel” light inthe Mustang didn’t come on, and she ran out of gas about three miles from town, and about nine from where I work.
I snagged a can, put some go juice in it, and headed out. Just before I got to where she was, I passed a fellow striding along with a pack and a mat.
We put the gas in the car, and he went by us, saying “Hello”, not even thinking about asking the obvious question. Before I left to return to work, I told her that he would be okay to pickup as he probably was going to the town she just left. I went to work, not worried in the least, even though her phone had started to misbehave rather badly. I got the whole story later.
His name was Frank, and he was on his way back to Indianapolis where he lived. His mother had died about a month back, and his sister, with power of attorney and no will, kept the sixty-eight grand in assets. One brother of his suicided a few weeks after Mom died. He apparently hitched all the time, but had gotten to where he never asked. He went to help his other brother with something in Rockville. After there a few days and brother doing naught but drink and couch set, he got fed up and started back to Indianapolis to clean up his dead brother’s place.
My wife didn’t just take him back to our town. She stopped and got gas, and then took him the other direction, an half-hour down the road to Brownsburg.
How did I ultimately know that this guy was going to be fine getting into a car with my wife and daughter? He was a man with a mission on getting somewhere. I don’t think I even got a good look at his face as he passed us walking. He didn’t turn his head to say hello either. He walked by courteously, said hello, continuing on his mission of emotional cleanup.
There is always a story to be heard. No one cares to listen much anymore. People like to claim to help the poor and needy, but rarely they step up to the plate of brotherhood. This man, while having some needs, kept his chin up in those troublesome days, and while not refusing to accept assistance, he wasn’t going to ask for it either. This land needs more people like this. People like him, and those willing to only reach out but a little.
I liked that…and yes, there is always a story to be heard, we just need to listen. 🙂
Thanks for coming around the bend, Carol. Stop by anytime.. 😉 You have to watch your feet around here. You might step in some haiku.
Uh-oh…is this the same person I was speaking to yesterday? 🙂
Would have thought was obvious …
I am guessing you are talking about Brownsburg, Indiana. I remember that town well. I was hitchhiking in Indiana several years ago and this guy kicked me down 180 bucks and I was very grateful. I thought that, if I got a really cheap motel every night that I could get a motel every night till I got back to Wyoming. He dropped me off in front of a 140-dollar-a-night hotel in Brownsburg. Well, it was air-conditioned and it was in the middle of summer; easy come, easy go–I wasn’t going to complain.
One time I was hitchhiking in Indiana and this high school kid picked me up. We had a good talk and so he took me home to meet his dad and mom in Indianapolis. He walked into the house and told his mom that he had picked up a hitchhiker and brought him home. They were a great family. His dad was the pastor at the St. Louis Crossing Independent Methodist Church near Hope, Indiana. He asked me to give a message at the church service that Sunday. A few years later, this young lady picked me up in Kansas and she told me that her grandparents attend the St. Louis Crossing Independent Methodist Church.
Now I am thinking about some of my Indiana hitchhiking experiences. I once slept in a small haystack near Comfort, Indiana east of Indianapolis. This one winter I walked 17 miles from Indiana into Illinois and got a ride with a guy all the way to Salina, Kansas–he even put me up in a motel room in Burlington, Iowa while he stayed with some relatives for the night.
The hitchhiker you wrote about was definitely going somewhere. Some of these hitchhikers don’t do anything but breathe air, complain about their oppressed status in life and blame everybody for their troubles. They should look in the mirror sometime. People need to take responsibility for their own actions.
Thanks for helping out that hitchhiker.
Yes, Brownsburg, Indiana. You probably stayed at the Holiday Inn just off the interstate? Thanks for the comment. And I always ask for the story.
“Sometimes, people will step outside of their box, and surprise the hell out of you. This time, it was my wife, January. What did she do? She, ‘OMG’, picked up a hitchhiker, with our two and a half year old daughter in the car to boot!”
This reminds me of a time years ago when I was hitchhiking out of Clarkston, Washington. This young mom and her three kids picked me up. I got in the back seat and on the way to Dayton, Washington, her three year old girl started rubbing my shoulder and singing to me. Her mom looked in the rear-view mirror and was pleasantly surprised. She said, “Wow, my daughter absolutely loves you! I am going to take you home to meet my husband.”
So we drove to their camper and I met her husband. They let me stay for supper and I slept outside on the grass that night. I don’t think most women with children in their car would pick up a hitchhiker.
One time I was hitchhiking in New Mexico and this van pulled over. The man and woman inside told me to get in the back. I got in the back of the van and right now their huge rotweiler came up to me and started licking my face. The man and woman turned around and about had a heart attack. They exclaimed, “We have NEVER seen our rotweiler be so friendly with a stranger before! You’re staying with us tonight.” I had a place to stay that night and hit the road the next day.
Little children and rotweilers are sometimes a hitchhiker’s best friends.