Bobbie’s Blog
LINKS
ARCHIVES
• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December
• 2009
• 2010
Hello
Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change. Robert F. Kennedy, Speech at the University of Capetown, South Africa, Day of Affirmation, 6 June 1966
Nov. 23, 2009
Thankful for the Small Things
As cars whizzed by me while I sat along a long stretch of interstate in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday night, I wondered what I’d do. The hand on the gas gauge of my car registered below empty, and I had no cell phone. In fact, I sat on the edge of an interstate with eight lanes of traffic to my left in darkness with only headlights blazing.
After contemplating how dangerous it would be to get out of the car and walk a few miles to find help or at least a pay phone, a van drove up behind me.
At first, I panicked, wondering who or what might approach me. After all, along the highway with nowhere to run but a wooded area to my right, I didn’t think I’d have much of a chance should the unknown visitor behind me turn out to be someone precarious.
As I sat there, a small man, balding, with a pleasant smile approached my car window and asked if I needed help. I cracked my window and told him I’d run out of gas.
“Well, I can take you into the city up ahead to a station and get some for you,” he said.
I told the man I didn’t have any money to pay him, but he insisted, so I agreed since I’d figured I might end up sitting there for a long while and I’d rather not walk.
As I stepped up to get inside his van, a box with a cake sat on the passenger seat.
“Today’s my birthday,” the man said. “I’m 70 years old.”
I wished him a happy birthday, and it turned out, the friendly smile was indeed just that, someone with a kind heart. Then, the man drove me to a gas station, paid for the gas in a can he had in his van and poured it in my tank when we returned to the car.
When I asked him how I could repay him, he told me, “You don’t need to.”
But surely, I couldn’t just let him go without paying him, so I asked him what his name was and how I could send him the money. He said his name was Charlie and that he worked at a station not far away, but he insisted payment wasn’t necessary.
The following Monday, I called the station where Charlie said he worked, but the man who answered said no one by that name worked there. I pressed the man again and told him the story, but he just said no Charlie worked there.
I don’t know whatever happened to Charlie or if that was his real name, but I’m sure glad he came along when he did. I even had a key chain engraved with the words, “Thanks, Charlie” as a reminder of how lucky I was that night.
Many years have passed since I met Charlie, and there aren’t too many days that go by when I’m driving that I don’t think about his kindness and generosity. Though the situation could have turned out dire, it didn’t.
And even though my key chain has tarnished, it reminds me to be thankful for even the smallest things, especially when the highway ahead appears to grow longer and the gas hand to this vehicle we call life slips ever so close to empty.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!
Bobbie Whitehead
