Last hour, I was standing out in the middle of my yard filming the dark skies, lightning and thunder of our looming and approaching storm. I saw something red in the corner of my screen and it was a black man slowly walking up my street. We have a lot of foot traffic on my avenue most days and it keeps Maggie busy. As he got closer to me, I said, “It is fixing to get rough weather wise, man. You need to get some shelter.”
“Can you give me a ride over by the projects?” he asked after I broke the ice.
That is just a mile from my house so I agreed.
“Let me get my car key, but we need to hurry!” I replied.
He told me his name was Cameron and that he hoped to have a car soon – that he was looking at some to buy. I dropped him off close to a friend’s house and he thanked me profusely.
“You be alright for a white guy,” he said.
He shut the door and I drove home just moments before the skies opened up upon us.
Dad called me about the weather. One of the few topics we share in common, and I told him what I did and he said I was stupid to do that – that man could've had a gun and robbed me or hijacked my car. Can you be too careful in this day and age? I was just treating the guy how I would want to be treated. Oh well, all's well that ends well.
6 comments:
I wish we didn't have to worry about things like that. I remember picking up hitch hikers, giving rides to strangers, even striking up conversations with strangers...all those things are dangerous now.
Sometimes it's difficult for me to remember to be careful. I just want to be helpful.
I agree with your dad.
I still pick up hitchhikers if they need a ride.
It's hard to give a blanket yes/no to that question. So much depends on the circumstances. How the person is dressed, cleanliness, how the request was framed, sex of the individual, time of day/night...all those play into it. I live in a college town and do occasionally pick up kids going up one of the steep hills when it's raining, but I can pretty well peg them as students. Otherwise, because I'm a woman, I pass on hitchhikers. I'll leave them for someone else. It's just not worth the risk for me.
I would have done the same thing. We can either live in constant fear of everyone and everything ( which is NOT living) or just live. You run just as much of a chance of being "held up" outside the dollar store. One act of kindness at a time can change everything. You have no idea what impact you had on the person you gave a lift to, or what this small act may do to influence him in the future. Well done.
Sandra
I love what Sandra said. We can't go through life afraid. We have to try to help one another when we can. There will always be an excuse to look the other way. You racked up some good karma, Andrew. :)
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