Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Where the heck did they come from? There must be spirits that somehow direct rescuers to victims of tragedy deep in the wilderness. That’s the only explanation for this near impossible chance meeting.

My wife and I set out across a vast wasteland of sandy desert just headed for some mountains and canyons two miles away. There were no trails and we had no destination in mind. After about 4-5 miles, deep in the canyons, we sat down for lunch. We thought we heard our conversation echoing down through the canyon, but the distant echoes didn’t match. After a few minutes, high on the canyon wall we clearly heard someone else talking in the distance. I climbed a little up and saw a man shouting to us. He seemed desperate.

We climbed up a few hundred feet to where he was. He was a retired policeman from California. He and his wife were riding an ATV for miles across the mountains just like we were doing (without any trails). He headed down into our canyon on a steep slope that no ATV should have been on.

His wife, recognizing a macho “guy thing" happening, wisely got off just before he drove it over a small ledge and landed it in a tree. Yes, this near VW sized ATV had its wheels several feet off the ground, hanging in a bush-like tree. He was tough and only his pride was wounded.

Together we implemented a risky and complex plan to saw, tether and crash-land his ATV into some logs and boulders that would stop it from rolling off the next bigger ledge. Then we built a road back up the ledge. The rescue took a couple of hours. He didn’t know exactly where he was, but he would follow his tracks back to his truck. They were so relieved we had saved them from walking out of the desert. They just wanted to relax and talk a while over lunch before heading back.

They were young. He had one too many scary shoot-outs in the night with drug dealers, and his wife convinced him it was time to quit police work. They were on a needed vacation. Bless all the men and women in blue! I have little doubt some benevolent spirit guided my wife and me to assist them on their journey through life. Perhaps your acts of kindness have some unseen guiding hands too.