Stories of Kindness from Around the World

In The Middle of Nowhere


--by SaraJ22, posted Nov 6, 2007
I was driving home from school one hot summer day when I realized that my car was not working right. I kept driving and prayed that it would hold out the 3 hours that I still had to go. Seconds later, everything in my car died and I barely made it off to the shoulder. 

Knowing absolutely nothing about cars, I popped the hood and proceeded to check the oil (since that's the only thing I knew how to do). As I was doing this, two older men in a truck pulled behind me and asked if I needed help. Of course, I couldn't turn them down since I was so far from home. They could see that I was shaken up and told me to get back in the car and they would take a look to see what was wrong.

After some investigating they informed me that it was my transmission and they could jump my car enough to make it to the service station (just a mile up the road). After charging my car, they led me to the station and went in to tell the mechanic what was wrong. They came back out seconds later to tell me the mechanic was out on a break and probably wouldn't be back (it was a tiny town and was the only station for miles); however, there was a shop with auto parts and would see if they had the right part. They went ahead and purchased the transmission for me and said they could again jump my car enough to drive it up the road to their place where one of them had a shop where he worked on tractors.

I again followed them up the highway to his shop and they began working on my car while I sat in the driver's seat and prayed. After working for about an hour, trying to get the old transmission out and the new one in, they realized that they had gotten the wrong Transmission and would go back into town and get the right one. While they did that, they sent me into the house where his wife had a little hair salon. She offered me something to eat and drink while I waited and just kept me calm with her constant chatter. An hour later the two men appeared again saying that it was all finished and seemed to be running smoothly. I hopped in my car and sure enough everything was working perfectly again.

I couldn't thank them enough for their kindness. I wrote them a check for the transmission and tried to give them more, but they wouldn't accept it, just saying that they would hope someone would do the same thing for their daughter.

I cried and sang and prayed the entire 3 hour drive  home... I just couldn't believe that two men would take 4 hours out of their day to help a complete stranger. I still think about that day and how lucky I was.
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Readers Comments

albert wrote: With god we are never lucky we are always blessed, he never leaves us he is always with us.
falsemonkeypuzzl wrote: How blessed you were to be the recipient of such an incredible act of generosity!
xbeldaran wrote: i'm so glad this came back onto the first page as i am not aware how to work this site yet ...your story is amazing and makes me thankful for the kindness of mankind
cassiemeadows wrote: That was a nice story. Sam is right, the internet is an awful place for people to be nastey. i guess its because there are no cosequences. but its unpleasant to see it on this site.
the men were very kind to you. thanks very much for sharing that with us. i enjoyed reading that story. take care of yourself! (and your car ;p)
Sam wrote: As to the rudeness of the comments... Welcome to the internet.
Also, why are people surprised at the act of kindness? Most people I know would have done the same thing....
And this may sound harsh, please understand I'm not saying it to be mean, but what's with all the sobbing? I mean, it's just a car. And so you might have gotten stranded somewhere. I can understand maybe sighing in resignation, or an "Oh for pete's sake!", but if you are crying over something as minor as being somewhere you don't want to be with a broken down car, there are other things seriously wrong in your life. Like I said, I'm not trying to be mean. Blunt yes, mean, no.
Cristie wrote: Wow, first great story, thank you for sharing. Second, I'm aghast at the rudeness shown by some of the comments to this story. The author stated she didn't know much about cars. She made an error when typing out the story. The men that helped her obviously weren't trying to scam her or they would have taken the 'more' that she offered. So, the negative comments by Justin were not warranted. He could have simply asked if she meant alternator instead of transmission because that would make more sense. And the person that posted under A Big Fat Slob is just being an instigator. SaraJ22 put forth a sweet story for us to read and enjoy, not pick and poke at and when it was rudely torn apart she had every right to state she didn't appreciate it. A Big Fat Slob needs to keep his Big Fat Nose out of it.
cherie wrote: thank you very much for sharing this very beautiful story. it really made me feel good to know people really do wanna help people.
Slob wrote: Justin wasn't being negative . . . what you described was impossible and he made that plain. He based his comment on what YOU said and was only trying to set you straight. If it was as YOU said, these two were scamming you, not helping. Justin was right to try to help you by pointing that out. As it turns out you were the one who was wrong. Your criticism of Justin was uncalled for -- did you want him to apologize for your mistake?
Sheesh.
katlampi wrote: wows!! that's a lot of good deeds all rolled into one! congratulations on finding such rare and exciting hospitality! :)
Janice Moroney wrote: They will be Blessed tenfold.That was a lovely story...

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