I’m driving home yesterday and I passed a brand new Honda Accord pulled to the side of the road with a flat.  Actually, that’s not true: The car was parked on a hill, and the left rear tire was shredded.  Since there were no “do not back up” spikes around I don’t know how this happened but I did see the tiny woman trying to navigate her trunk and spare.

So, being both car-geek and good southern boy, I stopped.  Asking if she wanted help, her shoulders slumped and she thankfully accepted.  Now began a strange dance of moving the car to flat ground, chocking the wheels, turning on the hazards and all the appropriate “please don’t hit me, you moron” prep involved in a roadside tire change during rush-hour.

The tire iron she had was designed by Ikea in a low budget month.  Kindling, yes.  Torque-wrench, no.  So I headed to my car to retrieve a real torque-wrench.  And as I marched back to her car, now a tall long-haired freak with a mean looking wrench she says, “You keep a torque-wrench in your car?”

 Yes.  I’m that guy.

So as I’m mid-tire change I make conversation and here’s where the whole event struck me as sad.  I knew that some part of her was thinking “who is this weird guy who would actually stop?”.  “Is he a sexual deviant?”  “Does he prey on people?”  She covered it by offering a quiet-leading “So, thanks a lot for stopping…”  And for my own part, I’m thinking “Why did I stop?  If I do this wrong she’ll wanna sue me into oblivion.”

When did this happen?  When did being nice to someone come with a dozen questions and suspicions?  Why wasn’t there a line of five guys waiting to help this woman out?  Does no one else know how to fix a tire?  Are we all just calling AAA instead of actually helping one another?  The questions saddened me…. in our litigious, post-9/11 society it seems there’s no room for good-old-fashion nice-ness!  We’re all driving around in our little metal cages scared to death of each other.

No, excuse me… we all have someplace to be.  Can’t stop.  Already late.

I know I’ve said it.  But yesterday I decided all the reasons to keep driving weren’t good enough.

I hope she got home okay.  And Honda better give her another tire cause that one was crap.

The lesson here, the awarning if you will, is this:  If someone’s stranded on the side of the road and you can help them… why don’t you?  Oh… and carry a torque wrench.