I had a great weekend at a training event in Hollywood, California! It was incredible! The personal development I received put me on top of the world! I became a new person and nothing could topple my resolve.
And so came the tests.
First, my cell phone dropped on the escalator out of the building. It stopped working. This was bad news as I had a seven hour drive north to get home, in the dark, alone. Oh well. I would rise to the challenge of being cell phone-less.
During the drive I got over the treacherous mountain pass, called The Grapevine, out of Southern California. At the bottom of the hill I stopped to use a pay phone and call my family to let them know I was on my way. A couple with a little baby were standing around and I asked in broken Spanish if they needed help. They responded in broken English that they were waiting for a ride. I was on a mission to help people, so this felt good and right. I gave them an apple and a drink and went on my way… forgetting to turn on my headlights.
This was a big mistake. As I got on the freeway, still not knowing my headlights were off, I hit a curb. It is a miracle that my car did not flip and make me a human sardine. But ½ mile down the freeway I heard the horrible and familiar “thump, thump” of a flat tire. Test #3.
I was stuck at 9 o’clock on a Sunday night on a busy freeway. I was very proud of myself that considering the situation, I did not cry. Maybe I was a little in shock. Instead, I laughed. I thought all that great, motivational training and I am getting to put it to immediate use. I am motivating myself!
I first said a prayer for my ‘deliverer’, whoever it was going to be. Then with hazard lights flashing I went out and flagged some passing cars. No one stopped or flashed their lights in acknowledgement of my predicament. Remember, my cell phone was broken.
Next, I sat on the trunk of this little Toyota Echo and waved frantically at passing cars. When this proved futile I got a white T shirt and waved it, thinking the light color would reflect the passing headlights and surely someone would stop. No.
I climbed back into the car and tried to rest my weary eyes. Who can sleep with 18 wheeler trucks passing by 10 feet away going 65 or 70 miles per hour? The very ground thundered as they whizzed past.
I thought about walking back to the pay phone by the rest stop and calling for help. But the old adage of staying put when lost came to mind and I wisely decided to wait it out.
As a last option, I turned on the headlights and with white T shirt in hand I stood in front of the headlights waving wildly for someone to stop and help me. Ten minutes of that proved useless. So I trudged despairingly back to the car.
Where were the highway patrolmen who are always around? Where were those tow truckers who are always prowling for stranded vehicles? Was there no one to help me in my plight? Are there no more good Samaritans in America? Is everyone so afraid of each other that we have forgotten to lend a helping hand?
All of a sudden I saw a pair of red lights backing up. Praise the Lord! After 45 minutes someone stopped to help me.
I went up to the truck to lavish my gratitude on this benefactor. Turned out it was a young man with his wife and 4 kids in the truck. He stopped to help me, with the hope and action that someday someone will stop and help his wife, if ever she is in a similar situation. He put on the spare tire in record time and sent me safely on my way with the warning to drive to a hotel for the night until I could get a new tire. I thanked him profusely and got his address so I could send a thank you gift card.
There is something wrong in America that a human being stays stranded on a dark freeway with thousands of cars driving by! What has happened to the generous spirit that made this country great? Are we so paranoid of one another since whatever event wrought this ungodly fear? Or is it our tight schedules that keep us in the fast lane of life, that won’t allow us to stop and help another? Call it your karma, but I know it as The Golden Rule: “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.” Thank you Grace and Richard for helping me.
