Ritter’s Rant 077: Pay it Forward

Hello and welcome to this edition of Ritter's Rant. Uh today I'm going to talk about u paying it forward. Uh in 2000 there was a movie u made by that name Pay It Forward. uh Kevin Spacy uh in a in a young kid u you know it was a movie about you know helping people out doing things and then the idea is once you get helped out you help other people out and uh it there's a cascade about that and uh the movie was popular but you know people go to movies and say well it's just Hollywood it's not real it doesn't really happen you know it's just you know blah blah blah well you know a couple years ago my wife and I uh traveled to um California to visit my parents. And the way that airplane tickets are, um flying directly into Palm Springs would cost us around $1,200 more than if we took one of these cheap flights to Las Vegas and then rented a car and drove. We would actually save around 800 bucks. And since I'm not rich, 800 bucks is a good thing. So, we were driving from uh Las Vegas to uh to Palm Springs and we go through a stretch of desert uh north of the Marine base of 29 Palms where I used to be stationed uh near Amboy Amboy Crater. You guys could look at it on a map, but it's a very desolate area. No people, no nothing. And we're trying to get there in time for, you know, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving meal. Um and so we're sort of time is a time is essential. And we're driving and driving and uh we we pass this car and I look and there's um you know this car heading the other way uh and it's off the side of the road but it has bottomed out. Uh they got into the soft sand. Apparently they pulled over for whatever reason and um they got in the soft sand and it was bottomed out and there was a lady there, a young lady, she had a uh a dog and in her arms and um a guy on the hands knees trying to dig that car out. And you know, my wife and I drove on and I went, "We got we got we can't just we got to help." And she agreed. And so we turned around and we went there and uh you know, I spent some time with the guy trying to dig it out and I said, "We we're never going to get this thing out." And you know, the whole time we were there, no cars were going by. And if a car did go by, it didn't stop. So these guys were literally up the creek without a paddle. So I said, "Look, why don't you guys lock up your car? you, your dog, get in ours and we're going to drive you to 29 Palms about an hour away and um we'll take you to a um you know, a towing car uh company and we'll we'll arrange to have a truck come out and pull you out of the the sand. And you know, this guy was a young Marine. He um he had gotten what's called a 96. That's a uh a 4-day pass. They're they're tough to come by. and he and his young wife uh were going to go visit her family uh in Henderson, Nevada, a town just south of Las Vegas. And you know, when you're on a 96, time is time is everything because that's 96 hours. And every hour spent trying to dig your car out or waiting is one hour you're not home with the family. Um and he was a young Marine. He doesn't have any money. Um and they were just devastated because they were basically looking at their entire vacation plans going down the drain. Uh we got there and we asked the um the towing company, you know, how much was this going to be? And uh it was a considerable amount of money. Um I mean, not millions, but you know, it was money. And uh there's money clearly this marine didn't have. So um I left my credit card and I said, uh whatever it is, add a uh add a 25% tip and uh I'm just going to trust you to build the proper amount. And the guy said, I promise you I will. said, "I'm a former Marine myself, and what you're doing for this Marine is is very good, so we're going to give him a good deal and all that." Um, and I left the we left that Marine family there, and sure enough, I got an email uh about an hour and a half later um from the tow company. They told me how much money they had charged the card, and they said, "We got them out. The car is fully functional, and we we got them on their way. They're headed they're headed home." And made my wife and I feel pretty good. It was like, "Wow, we did something cool. Helped somebody out, you know, and you don't do it for reward. You don't do it for recognition. you don't do it for anything. Uh you just do it because it's the right thing to do to help people out. Um and we weren't thinking about paying it forward. You know, we weren't expecting anything good to happen to us. Uh it was just the right thing to do at the time. Well, this morning, um my wife and I took our dogs out to the dog park that we go to. Uh there's been some snow and um it was tough getting in there and driving in um I'm fishtailing all over the place and I'm like I we really shouldn't be doing this, but the dogs were in the car and they were excited about going to the park. So we did it. We took them to the park. They ran around, did their thing, and we're coming home and the dogs are jumping all over my lap and everything. And I'm I got distracted and I went off the road and I buried my car in the snow and ice literally up to the up to the engine. Uh wheels covered, nothing. I couldn't get out. Um and you know, Marines got to get to work. We got the got dogs in the car and we're stuck in the middle of nowhere. And because of the weather, because of the road conditions, wasn't anybody coming. We were on our own and we're in an area with sort of bad cell phone reception. So, it was looking grim, but being the uh former Marine that I am, I uh I looked in the back and I had one of those uh brushes used to wipe your windows off and everything and I I got out and I just started trying to dig this car out. And I I had made decent progress, but um you know, I wasn't dressed for outdoor adventures. I had uh a pair of uh shoes on, slip-on shoes. Um and the the snow by the driver's side was knee deep. And I had gone in there and you know I have neuropathy. I can't feel my feet. That's a whole another issue. But one of my shoes came off and I didn't realize it. So I'm down there digging around for about 10 minutes. My foot is turned into a solid block of ice, but I couldn't see. But I got this pink foot sticking out there in the middle of nowhere trying to dig the car out. And um suddenly I hear a voice shout from behind me, "Dude, put your shoes on and get in the car. You know, we got this." And I looked over and there were there were two guys there. Um they were from a a private company. Um there had been major Anybody who follows my writing remembers I wrote about the Kildair eggs and the uh you know the gas pipeline that was put in and all this stuff. And um you know there was a lot of um contractors that were involved in that project. I guess these guys were sent out because of the weather just to make sure everything was okay. Um, it was fortunate they they came by, but they saw me. I guess it was my pink foot that gave me away because the rest of the car was buried in the snow and uh they they they said, "You got to get in the car." And I uh and we we we worked it out, but they dug me out. A lot of work. They attached a tow line and we were able to get my car out of the ditch and get my wife and I safely back on the road. uh you know, and we'd still be there right now if it weren't for these two guys. They had no obligation, no duty, no responsibility to stop for us. Um they could have just said, "Hey, we'll go get help." But they made a decision that they were going to do the heavy work. Um you know, they they refused to accept money. They refused to accept anything that except a handshake of thanks. Uh they were truly, you know, angels sent down to help us in a time of need. Uh, and basically what we did to that Marine family, it it got paid forward. People came down with an act of kindness. Uh, and I wanted to talk about it today because we live in sort of very stressful times. Um, a lot of pressure on us. A lot of pressure at home. Uh, the economy isn't as great as everybody claims it's going to be. A lot of people are working, you know, paycheck to paycheck. There's stresses. There's everything. We have domestic problems here in America. We have problems overseas, rumors of war and and actual war. Um, and I think tensions are high and we uh we lose our tempers easily. We uh we tend to forget that um you know the people out there feeling the same way, going through the same pressures. They're fellow human beings. And uh you know we rather than creating additional stress for one another, we should be doing our best to de-stress. And we de-stress by helping people in need. It can be a an act of kindness. I mean, if you're at the store and you see somebody uh struggling because maybe they have a little bit too much in front of them and not enough money in their wallet to pay for it, step forward and and pay the bill. Um the other day I was at the train station and uh there was a homeless person there who basically uh I was paying for snacks I was bringing on the train and he said, "Would you be able to help me out?" And I had watched uh you know several people go through the line before me and nobody helped him out. And I said, "Sure, bring it up." And he rang it up and he was able to get a drink and some food. It didn't cost me a lot of money. It was just a an act of kindness to pay it forward. Who knows, someday he might be able to help somebody else out. And that's the whole thing. If we just start helping people, we just start being kind to people. And we pay it forward. We, you know, we have people kind to us. We help people. There's no duty. There's no obligation. It's just basic human responsibility. If we just start behaving as human beings, treating each other with respect, love, and kindness, it's amazing how good things will start to happen. I shouldn't be here right now. I should be about 7 miles away in a buried car, running out of gas, car overheating, dogs uh in distress, wife angry at me. Um, that's where I should be. But I'm not. I'm here able to talk to you because of the kindness of two strangers who took it upon themselves to come to the aid of somebody who clearly was in need of help. And I thank these two gentlemen. And um I encourage everybody to just go forth today and if you see somebody who needs help, help them out. And if not, just be kind. A smile, a handshake, a nod of the head, anything. Um, we pay kindness forward and karma will ensure that kind kindness comes back. Anyways, that's my rant. The next time a thought crosses my mind, I'll be sure to let you know.

When the going gets tough, look for random acts of kindness to help pull us all through.