Note: I was originally thinking of posting this on either the General or Extended Discussions boards on Gaia's community forums, but I realized how immature those places really are, so I'm hoping I'd get some sensible responses here instead.
Secondly, I'd like to point out that the following is a post I wrote tonight on my blog in regards to something that happened while I was getting ready to go home from school. Feel free to post comments here or on the original post. smile ~~~
Today was supposed to be like any other school day, but heading home was a different story. It was nighttime, cold and windy, and I was ready to go home. I got into my car, turned it on, popped in my mix CD, and pulled out of parking. As I made my way down through the parking garage, a girl ahead of me waved her hands signaling for me to stop. I was tired and hungry, and I wanted to go home, so the first thing that came to my mind was, “Aw crap, what now?”
I stopped and she approached me to the side. She needed my help because the battery to her car died. She also asked if I had jumper cables because apparently she couldn’t find hers. Now mind you, I hadn’t exactly agreed to help her out yet, and to be perfectly honest I didn’t really want to at the time. It wasn’t so much because I wanted to go home (well, in a way it did), but it was more of the fact that I didn’t really know if I would be of much use to her. I wasn’t an expert in these things and my dad had only showed me how to jumpstart cars a couple of times, but much of what he taught me didn’t really register into my long-term memory.
But seeing this girl helpless, and out in the cold night alone in the parking garage, I knew it wouldn’t be right for me to just drive away and not do anything about it. It would have been one thing if I was totally ignorant of her predicament, but instead I knew what she was going through and to refuse her would mean going home on a guilt trip - literally, and pun intended.
However, I had to be honest with her, and especially with myself. I told her straight-up that I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about doing this but that I was willing to help her in any way that I could. She told me that it wasn’t a problem and she called up someone she knew that could help us. Her friend guided her on the phone as to what needed to be done and I simply followed orders. (But I did remember some things that my dad taught me so I was sort of “ahead of the game”, so to speak.) Five minutes passed and her car finally started! She was so happy she seemed like she couldn’t thank me enough. Being the modest guy that I am, I simply told her that it was no problem and that I was glad to have helped. And with that, we shook hands, said our goodbyes, and I watched her drove away.
At that moment, as I felt the cool breeze, something dawned on me. The girl thanked me so much like as if I was her savior, but in reality, I should have been the one thanking her.
Tonight’s experience made me realize there’s a reason as to why we learn certain things, even if we take them for granted or perceive them as insignificant to our lives. For instance, I didn’t care much for what my dad taught me about jumpstarting cars, but had he not done so, I would have been totally clueless on what to do in such a situation like tonight. I would have probably ended up giving her some lame excuse, driving away, and never forgiving myself for the rest of my life. So in a way, now that I think about it, I should really be thanking my dad, the man in my family who strives to teach me all the practical lessons that I need to know, and the same man who barely receives enough recognition that he truly deserves.
Call me weird, but tonight’s experience made me feel like I was re-enacting a scene from a J-Drama that I’ve seen, kind of like how Sakaki Makio from My Boss, My Hero utilized the concept of parabolas to get his pudding, or how Misaki Youko from Attention Please had to use what she learned during her emergency training to save a person’s life. Funny, ain’t it? I’m just glad that I was able to help the girl out, and I pray that she made it home safely tonight.
So, I suppose I did my good deed for the day. How about you?
~~~
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