The Help of a Stranger

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I was having a good day. After making my boys a requested breakfast of waffles and fresh fruit, I dropped my oldest son off at school and went to the gym for a much needed workout. After enduring an hour of a strenuous kickboxing class, I felt tired but accomplished. I was ready to move on to the rest of my full day.

Next stop, home for a shower, then pack up for school, and make a healthy lunch. Once I started to drive down the street, I realized that something was terribly wrong with my car.

I pulled to the side of the road and jumped out of the car only to discover that I had a very flat tire. And just like that, the hole in my tire put a stop to my busy daily schedule as fast as it stopped my car from moving. Not knowing where the leak was coming from or how bad the hole was, I retrieved the tire pump from the back and attempted to pump up the tire so I could drive across the street to have it fixed. After about ten minutes, I knew that it wasn’t working. So there I sat at the side of the road with two of my kids, happy for the time being as they worked on eating all the snacks that I had in my car.

I spent a few minutes trying to decide if I should call for road side assistance when I realized that a truck was pulling behind my car. Although relieved to see that someone stopped to help, I felt a bit of panic and I nervously glanced at my kids playing in the car. My uneasiness went away as I noticed a firefighter symbol on his license plate. He introduced himself and offered to change my tire to a spare.
I was incredibly grateful that a stranger would take time out of his own schedule and spend an hour getting a woman and her children safely back on the road.

Helping others is good for the heart and good for the soul. I will not forget the kindness that I was shown that day and do my best to repay the favor to someone else in their time of need.

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