While we were driving to the storage facility I see a gentleman alongside the road. Now this road is one of those roads that are called a highway but it is more like the old style of 2 lane highway with stop lights and signs. Kind of like the old route 66. As we passed the gentleman he looked like someone I knew and so I proceeded to stop. This really upset my son. He was basically yelling at me telling me that first no it was not who I thought it was and second why am I picking up a hitchhiker. I calmed him down while the gentleman run to the truck. When he got to the truck he thanked us for stopping and that his truck is broken down and was walking to a gas station about 4 miles up the road to get a soda. I told him to climb in and we could get him there. We had small talk and he informed us that he helped with the salvation army three days a week and that he is a little down on his luck and asked us what we were doing and I let him know about us getting the scout trailer loaded. Once at the gas station he let us know he will be walking back and if we needed help loading that he was willing. I let him know that the boys had it covered and thanked him for the offer.
We headed to the storage and I mentioned to my son that look not every hitch hiker is a serial killer and that helping someone out is good. He agreed with me and that the gentleman was real nice. The hitch hikers story was kind of interesting that he was going to a gas station to get a soda over four miles away on foot so we just to be safe took a quick inventory of the truck and evaluated how it all went down. Then we evaluated the "what if" scenerio if it did go wrong what would we have done. First we noticed that all our protection gear was in the back seat where the hitchhiker was sitting. My son had his Gerber knife on him and that if something went wrong he could stop or slow down something serious. Then my son said something that really took me by suprise. He says: "Next time, when we pick up a hitch hiker I will offer them my seat and I can be in the back with the adavantage if we have a situation." I was so proud at that moment, he evaluated the situation and came up with a solution that would protect both of us. Now that is critical thinking and also shows me the fact that he is willing to help others but knows that you should always be prepared for things to go wrong. That kind of thinking will take him far in life. We often don't help others because that is someone else's job, we are too busy, or don't feel safe about it. Being a diabetic I have needed the services of others and understand what it is like to be in a situation. Knowing this helps me always try to find a way to help others. The world we live in today is sad at times because we are so busy trying to punish the good samaratins that we no longer offer help because you are then labeled a "wierdo" that helps others. Dont let this happen to you and take time in life to give back or assist others when they need help.
That is my feel good blog post of the month or something.
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