What’s Going On?

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt helpless? Well I’ve been there plenty of times and it’s not the best place to be in. I was at Safeway shopping for some drinks and I came out of the parking lot and I saw two people stranded with their car that wouldn’t start.

At first glance they seemed like they just finished shopping and a woman was just waiting for her husband to return the cart back into the cart return area. In a faint cry for help I heard, “Does anyone have AAA?” I wasn’t too sure if I heard correctly and even if I did hear that correctly I couldn’t help because my AAA insurance does not cover the AAA membership roadside assistance. As I finished putting the drinks into my trunk a man approached me and asked if I had jumper cables. I looked in my trunk and I realized that I did have them in my car.

This situation is ironic because about a year back I had a car battery that was dying and I too needed my car jumped. I had gotten the cables from my dad because I knew that my car would continue to die until I would replace battery. I eventually had the battery changed, but the cables stayed in the car. Despite cleaning out my trunk a couple of times, I didn’t know that the emergency kit that I once used in the trunk would come in handy so soon in a similar situation with my battery already replaced.

Anyhow, I brought over the cables to the couple’s car and attached the positives and the negatives from the dead battery to my battery. While I was in the process of jumping the car the woman suggested to her husband to pay me, but while over-hearing I said to myself, “are you serious?” I had the woman crank the engine and it was running again. As I was taking off the clamps the man hands me money, I looked at it with hesitation. A part of me wanted to take it because it was green and I haven’t gotten green for some time now, but nevertheless I had to fight myself. I declined the offering and I just told the couple to both have a good day. I’ve never seen two people go from desperation to emotions of joy and happiness in a period of ten minutes. This situation was probably one of the best moments of my life this year and it was the moment of a situation where I was a little help to someone in need.

If you see someone in need, pitch in and give a little help. It doesn’t hurt to take the time to make someone happy. All you need is a little push and in this case, jumper cables.