SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS

A Simple Act of Kindness

It was 12:00 noon on a Monday and everyone was rushing to lunch.

As I pulled into a local fast food restaurant and parked,
I noticed an old pickup truck with a trailer attached.

The driver had pulled into the narrow parking lot and mistakenly
tried to exit via the one way drive through lane.  Unfortunately
he was going the wrong way and cars were stacked up waiting to
get out.

When I arrived, he was frantically trying to get turned around
and out of everyone's way.  There were a lot of people watching
but no one offered to help.

I walked over to the driver's window and asked if he needed
help.  The driver was an older gentleman.  He was completely
exhausted.

The truck did not have power steering and in his attempt to get
turned around he had jackknifed the trailer.

I could tell that he was scared and did not know how to get out.

After stopping all the traffic and asking everyone to be patient
for a few minutes, I guided him back and forth until he finally
got the truck and trailer turned around.  I patted him on the
shoulder, told him "God Bless you and good luck."

He stated to me that he had just been released from the
hospital and that he was so scared; he thought he was going to
have another heart attack right on the spot.

He said, "you're a good man and I can never thank you enough."
I could tell that his thank you was truly from the heart.
He then drove away.

Working in construction all my life, I have been required to
drive vehicles with a trailer behind them.

To me this was a fairly easy situation to correct.
To an inexperienced driver it can be a nightmare.

A simple thank-you was certainly sufficient for such a little
gesture of kindness.

What happened next was a total surprise and an event I will
never forget.

As I opened the door and walked into the restaurant, everyone in
the restaurant stood up, clapped and shouted "good job".

No words can ever explain how good I felt.