Would you have stopped?

It’s dark out and I’m driving with my
son across the 205 bridge from
Portland to Vancouver. Actually,
I’m doing all the driving – his legs
are too short to reach the pedals
and he doesn’t have a license yet.

All of a sudden the car stalls
and the engine stops.
I’m in the 1966 Datsun Roadster.
Coasting to the side of the road
I’m hoping like heck people see me
(small car – very small) while at the same
time wishing I had a few tools in the car and a flashlight.
And then… a car pulls up behind me.
I smiled that someone was stopping,
but doubted they would be much help.
I mean really, not only is this car rare,
but it’s had modifications done to it
that many would just shake their head at.

By this time I was fairly certain the fuel pump wasn’t working,
because when the key is on and the kill switch enabled there
should be a slightly annoying clicking of the pump.
There was none. Ugh.
Did I mention it was dark out and getting late?
And I’m not exactly close to any auto parts store
nor would they be open if I was :)P

So, while I’m trying to slide under the car that
sits about as low to the ground as a skateboard,
this fellow produces a flashlight to help me see.
I thought it was cool that it was just like the one
my son found in the car… that worked for a few seconds
at a time (one of those with a handle that charges itself).
I happened to have a test light in the trunk, and was able
to discover that the fuel pump was not getting any power.
In my mind this was a relief because I had wired it in -
so it couldn’t be TOO complicated to find, right?
Did I mention how low this thing sits to the ground yet?
Argh…
Anyway, as I’m poking around testing for power in
the wires, here is what I find out about my Rescuer.
Not only do we share a common flashlight,
guess what kind of car he has at home.
Yep. A Datsun Roadster. Not one, BUT TWO OF THEM !!!
Apparently one of them is pretty darned nice -
as in show car nice, so I felt a bit apologetic
for the not so pristine condition of mine.
What can I say – I was 10 years old when my Dad
hauled it home after only paying $65 for it!
It’s been around the block and halfway across the country.
AND, get this – this guy, who I figured at first wouldn’t be
able to help me, is the head moderator of a Roadster website!!
HOW COOL IS THAT ?!?!?
I mean, of all people to have seen me and stopped ! ! !

Well, first let me tell you that I finally tracked down
the source of my dilemma. After much crawling around on
the ground and trying to squeeze under the car enough to
find and follow wires from the back of the car to the
front of the car – the culprit turned out to be… a fuse.
Yes. A fuse.
1 of 4 easy to see and access fuses under the hood of the car
which required no crawling on the ground to open or replace.
NOTE TO ALL PEOPLE: CHECK YOUR FUSES FIRST.
Those of you who know me will be giving me endless grief
about this, because I’ve been around cars all my life -
and I of all people should have known to look there first.

Apparently I went in looking for the worse case and
overlooked the most probable and simplest cause.
(How many times do you do that in Life???)

So, I put a new fuse in. Actually, it wasn’t “new’ per say,
as I suspect it’s been in there ever since my Dad owned it.
Anyway, long story short – the car started right up.
I was relieved, though felt rather foolish.

So after a bit of banter we parted ways -
but not before profuse thanks were given
to which he shared that I pay it forward.

Ahhhh… Music to my ears.
Another side to this person I liked

I finally tracked him down a few days later
from the website he moderates and emailed him.
He shared with me this story -
which I’d like you to pay attention to.

” Years ago, I commuted 30 miles each way over Iowa’s highways.
US Hiway 30 between Marshalltown and Tama/Toledo was a pretty straight forward road… with few houses or businesses along it’s length except for the small town of Le Grand (which did have TWO signs for “Welcome” and “Leaving”, but you COULD see the other one while standing at one.)

One day, running late for my job as Assistant Manager at a bookstore in the Marshaltown mall and having been scolded by my boss for having run late earlier in the week, I was pushing the speed limit well past it’s breaking point when I spied a car on the side of the road with a woman looking at her obviously flat tire. Ordinarily I’d stop, but I was more worried about my job. So with a prayer that she would get help soon, I was prepared to pass her by, feeling remorse at my own need to get to work to keep my job.

Just as I was about to draw even with her car, as I was zipping by, two little kid’s heads popped up in the rear window…. DANG!!! Now I REALLY couldn’t pass it by. I pulled over, and backed up.

Her tire wasn’t just flat… it was worn and torn so badly that it wasn’t going to be able to repaired (I had thought to use my fix-a-flat can). Worse yet her spare was also worn down PAST the threads AND you could see the last of the rubber starting to bulge out from the worn areas. I pointed out the problem and told her that I would change it, but that I would have to follow her into Le Grand to the gas station so she could possibly purchase a better used tire. I changed the tire, followed her in and bid good bye at the gas station. As I left I told her that if she had any more problems, to give me a call at my bookstore and that I was the Assistant Manager there. As luck would have it, my boss was also late and she never realized I’d opened the store 20 minutes late.

Skip forward several months…

I had worked late, long past the regular closing time of the mall and was headed home on Hiway 30. Needing to hit the rest area, I took the turn-off and proceeded down the dirt /gravel road only to discover that I had missed the actual entrance to the rest area and was now proceeding down past it. I looked for a place to turn around, in the complete pitch black of a moonless night, on a muddy road with a definite crown to it and run-off ditches on both sides…. with little luck. Finally about 2 miles in, I spied an access entry into a farm field and I thought I could use it to do a 3 point u-turn.

No such luck, I ended up sliding on the mud and ended up with the whole passenger side of the car in the drainage ditch mud. I got out, and realized that in my nice pants and shoes and as slippery as it was… it wasn’t going to happen tonight. I had a choice, I could sleep in the car and deal with it in the morning, or I could walk back to the road and hope that someone at 11pm plus would give me a ride to a phone (I had AAA).

Just as I was locking up the car, and getting ready to start walking away… a car pulled up. A couple were going into town for a late snack. He asked what had happened and told me to wait a couple minutes and he’d be right back. Thanking my guardian angel, I waited and sure enough, he showed up with a dual-axle pick-up truck and a snatch rope. In just a few minutes (he even attached the rope so I wouldn’t get messy), my car was out and ready to roll down the road.

I thanked him profusely and offered him a discount at my bookstore since I didn’t have any money with which to pay him. He just told me to pay it forward.

Skip ahead another couple of months. Now it’s getting close to Christmastime and the mall is BUSY.

A young woman stops at my register and looks at me long and patiently.
“How may I help you?” I ask.
“You don’t remember me do you?” she replies.
This really wasn’t what I was expecting, and although I had had a few girlfriends, I was still young enough to be able to remember them all, so I replied, “No, not really, how do I know you?”.
To which she asked, “Did your car get stuck in a ditch and needed to be pulled out?”
Which of course it had, so now thinking it was the wife of the man who helped me, I asked her which books she’d like to purchase and that I would buy them with my employee’s discount to save her and repay them for their kindness.
She mentioned that she wasn’t there to buy some books, which left me a bit confused as to what she was expecting from me.
She then related how I’d helped HER with her car’s tire and followed her to the gas station in Le Grand.
That rang a bell but I asked, “How did you know about my being stuck in the ditch?”
She floored me with her reply, “That was my Brother-In-Law that pulled you out. I just wanted you to know that we’re all paying it forward just like you asked me to do when you helped me.”

So you see, it really does work.

- Enrique Scanlon ”

Awesome.

Now, I was going to ask you to stop reading -
but then you wouldn’t know why if you did !

What I really want to know is;
—–> Would you have stopped ?

Because it might surprise, you who know me, to know that
more times than not I haven’t stopped to help people
who I see stopped alongside the road.
My typical excuses are:

* What if it’s a trap of some sort – I don’t want to endanger my son.
* I don’t have tools, so I doubt I could be of much help.
* Someone else will be ale to help more than I.
* I’m in a hurry and I don’t have time.

Yeah. There’s the ugly truth of it.
I’m sure there are a few more, but these seem to have worked so far.
No wonder I feel guilty whenever I drive on by – because there is
a great deal I do know about cars, so I probably could help.
AND even if I can’t fix the problem I could at least do something that
would get them closer to a solution. Apparently I overlook that.
I mean really, would it be so hard to at least see if they were OK?
A few minutes… To at least make sure there isn’t a Life at risk.
That’s the least we could do – and wouldn’t we appreciate the same ?

So… mind if I ask – What do you use as your excuses?
I’m just asking – no judging; I just told you I’m guilty as heck.

I keep thinking of this:

” I shall pass this way but once;
any good therefore that I can do,
or any kindness that I can show
- let me not defer nor neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again. ”

I must say, this past week I’ve cleaned out the Jeep a bit
and put a few tools in the back – just in case

So, let’s take this off road
and into the path of Life -
where we cross people every day who are
broken down and need help in their lives.

Do we even notice?
How quick are we to just speed past;
how often do we simply pass on by
the stuck and the stranded around us ?

See if this sounds familiar:

* I don’t have the right tools,
so I doubt I could be of much help.
* I’m in a hurry and I don’t have time.
* Someone else will be ale to help more than I.

Would you like to know one of the most powerful
declarations that, if embraced and practiced,
would be the end of every protest and riot?
It would mean the end of any war and “conflict”
of nations – would solve the strife of the homeless,
and none would go to bed hungry nor hopeless again.

It’s this: (And I wish I had a nickle for
every one of you who has heard this before)

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

If that sounds too “religious” for some of you, use:
“Treat people the way you’d like to be treated”.

If you like religions, try these;

Buddhism:
“Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.”

Judaism:
“Thou shalt Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Hinduism:
“One should always treat others
as they themselves wish to be treated.”

Confucianism:
“What you do not want done to yourself,
do not do to others.”

Take your pick, or make one up you like better if
you are above and beyond such “religious” beliefs.

Any way you slice it, you would see a world transformed
by the practice (not just the “preaching”) of this idealism.

When I was a kid, my parents at times would ask me
“How would you like it if someone did that to you?”
This usually followed the discovery of something
I had done that was less than desirable behavior.

Fast forward to today, and I have caught myself
saying the exact same thing to my son at times.

So now that we’re all grown up now-
let me ask you;

“How would you like it if someone did that to you?”

How would you like it if people just drove on by
when you were stuck on the side of the road ?

How would you like it if you were on hard times
and people just kept walking by and ignoring you?

How would you like it if you were sad and lonely
and no one bothered to ask you what was wrong?

How would you like it if all you heard was ridicule?

How would you like it if you worked hard
and were never given credit or recognition?

How would you like it if you were at the end of your rope,
and no one stopped to ask how you were doing – and mean it?

What if you had to one day face all of the people
that you could have helped; could have made a
real and positive impact on, BUT DIDN’T…
What would you say to them?

I’ll bet your reasons and excuses
would sound pretty weak.

So how about being the amazing people I know you to be
and step up your game of Greatness and get rid of the
selfish excuses we have for not doing the right thing.

How about taking a couple of weeks and be intent
on treating people as we would want to be treated.
I’d say start with those close to you,
but don’t get too comfortable there.
Work you way to casual acquaintances;
then take the leap toward strangers.
There are far more of them, so it
shouldn’t be too hard to do…

Oh, and one other person; You.

I would love to hear what opens up for you

~Rob
WAIT !!!

Just 1 more thing I ask of you.

Read this:

The Star Thrower (condensed)
by Loren Eisele

“There was a man who was walking along a sandy beach where
thousands of starfish had been washed up on the shore.
He noticed a boy picking the starfish one by one
and throwing them back into the ocean. The man observed
the boy for a few minutes and then asked what he was doing.
The boy replied that he was returning the starfish to the sea,
otherwise they would die. The man asked how saving a few,
when so many were doomed, would make any difference whatsoever?
The boy picked up a starfish and threw it back into
the ocean and said “Made a difference to that one…”
Bending down he retrieved another, tossing it into the waters.
“And that one…” as he continued his rescue mission.
The man left the boy and went home, deep in thought of
what the boy had said. He soon returned to the beach
and spent the rest of the day helping
the boy throw starfish in to the sea….”

Will you stop
in your busy Life
to help those around you?

update 01/16/2020
My condolences to the Scanlon family, as I just learned of his passing.
R.I.P. Enrique, and thank you for making a difference in our lives.