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MSD · 12-23-2009, 09:00 AM

I help people. If I see someone looking lost on the street, I'll ask them where they're going and try to point them in the right direction. There are a few local homeless people who will always smile and say "hi" to you as you pass, I've gotten them McDonald's gift cards (It's not the healthiest, but you can get a sandwich or a coffee for a dollar.) If someone I know needs help with something, I offer to help instead of waiting to be asked. If dozens of people can sit idly by as a woman is raped and murdered, how can I just assume that someone else is going to help someone who's "only" broken down on the side of the road?

One day a friend was driving me home to help with a car repair, and we were going slowly enough in traffic that as we passed a worried-looking woman on the side of the road with smoke coming from under her hood, he said, "want to stop and help her out?" and we weren't far past her. We both know cars pretty well, but most times when either of us has seen someone broken down, we're far enough past them that it's not safe to pull over and walk back to offer help, but it worked out that time.

My biggest concern was that she was a very petite woman and would be scared shitless of a 6'8 and 6'3 guy jumping out of a car and approaching her, so we shouted "do you need help?" as we walked up and she said she did. Turned out she's one of maybe 4 people in CT who didn't have a cell phone and after her car died, she was barely able to get to the side of the road. I gave her my phone and checked under the hood as she called her husband. Unfortunately, the smoke was coming from under the timing belt cover and there was enough top end damage that when I opened the oil cap, chunks of metal were visible. After a few minutes, a State Trooper pulled up and parked behind her with lights on to make everything more visible, so we left since we couldn't do anything else to help. She gave us her card, it turned out she runs a travel agency and told us to call her if we needed a good deal on a vacation. Later that night, her husband called me and thanked me again, and told me that they were getting her a cell phone the next day and not putting it off any longer, and thanked me another ten or twenty times. If that officer hadn't been driving by and we hadn't stopped, that woman could have been waiting in the rain for a long time and her husband at home worried sick about why she wasn't home when she planned to be.

As cynical and misanthropic as I tend to be, I will go out of my way to help people because I think it's it's the right thing to do. If some day it does turn out to be a trap to mug me, I'm bigger and more heavily armed than 99% of people out there, so I think I'll do OK. If I try to help someone and something bad happens to me, I hope it doesn't discourage good samaritans.

12-23-2009, 09:00 AM	#19 (permalink)
MSD The sky calls to us ... Super Moderator Location: CT	I help people. If I see someone looking lost on the street, I'll ask them where they're going and try to point them in the right direction. There are a few local homeless people who will always smile and say "hi" to you as you pass, I've gotten them McDonald's gift cards (It's not the healthiest, but you can get a sandwich or a coffee for a dollar.) If someone I know needs help with something, I offer to help instead of waiting to be asked. If dozens of people can sit idly by as a woman is raped and murdered, how can I just assume that someone else is going to help someone who's "only" broken down on the side of the road? One day a friend was driving me home to help with a car repair, and we were going slowly enough in traffic that as we passed a worried-looking woman on the side of the road with smoke coming from under her hood, he said, "want to stop and help her out?" and we weren't far past her. We both know cars pretty well, but most times when either of us has seen someone broken down, we're far enough past them that it's not safe to pull over and walk back to offer help, but it worked out that time. My biggest concern was that she was a very petite woman and would be scared shitless of a 6'8 and 6'3 guy jumping out of a car and approaching her, so we shouted "do you need help?" as we walked up and she said she did. Turned out she's one of maybe 4 people in CT who didn't have a cell phone and after her car died, she was barely able to get to the side of the road. I gave her my phone and checked under the hood as she called her husband. Unfortunately, the smoke was coming from under the timing belt cover and there was enough top end damage that when I opened the oil cap, chunks of metal were visible. After a few minutes, a State Trooper pulled up and parked behind her with lights on to make everything more visible, so we left since we couldn't do anything else to help. She gave us her card, it turned out she runs a travel agency and told us to call her if we needed a good deal on a vacation. Later that night, her husband called me and thanked me again, and told me that they were getting her a cell phone the next day and not putting it off any longer, and thanked me another ten or twenty times. If that officer hadn't been driving by and we hadn't stopped, that woman could have been waiting in the rain for a long time and her husband at home worried sick about why she wasn't home when she planned to be. As cynical and misanthropic as I tend to be, I will go out of my way to help people because I think it's it's the right thing to do. If some day it does turn out to be a trap to mug me, I'm bigger and more heavily armed than 99% of people out there, so I think I'll do OK. If I try to help someone and something bad happens to me, I hope it doesn't discourage good samaritans.