The Kindness of Strangers

I was driving home this evening after a fun afternoon with Lindsey and had just gone through the tunnel heading westbound on Hwy 26 when I noticed quite a bit of smoke drifting through the air. My first thought was that someone's car was on fire, but when I didn't see anything parked in the emergency lane, I figured it had to be coming from someone's tailpipe. When the drifting white smoke turned into a billowing cloud of black smoke, I decided that no, this was someone's car on fire. Then I saw what looked like sparks, then flames coming from underneath a car in the fast lane. The car changed lanes until it was in front of me and slowed way down. I put on my hazard lights to signal the cars behind me to slow down, but I wasn't sure what to do after that. Should I pull over? Did the driver know there were flames coming from the car? I decided to at least make sure the driver had a cell phone and wouldn't be totally stranded, so I pulled over behind the smoking car. I noticed another car had pulled over in front of the disabled car and we sandwiched it between us, our hazard lights blinking, the smoking car without its hazards on.

A lady who looked to be in her fifties or early sixties had her window down and was talking to the driver of the other car who had pulled over. He was dressed in nice slacks, dress shirt, tie and overcoat and had obviously just come from work or a meeting. The lady was surprised to hear that we had seen smoke and then flames under her car. She had only noticed a loss of power, but when she saw the two of us put our hazards on and move with her over to the side of the freeway, she figured something obvious to us was wrong with her car. She just didn't know what.

She tried calling her insurance company to see about getting a tow truck, but they wouldn't send one until they were sure the car was safe. Their recommendation was to call the police and /or the fire department. The three of us stood around for what seemed like a very long time, huddled against the concrete barrier at the side of the freeway while cars and trucks whooshed past us at what appeared to me to be an incredibly fast speed. I was struck by how one's perspective on things like speed changes drastically when one is outside a vehicle rather than inside it.

None of us were sure if we should call 911 as it didn't seem like a true emergency since her car was not currently on fire as far as any of us could tell, although it had leaked some fluid from the engine area and wisps of smoke were still visible around the car's front--whether it was coming from under the hood or lower under the car, I couldn't tell for sure.

In the end we called 911 and within 2 or 3 minutes a fire truck appeared, lights flashing brightly in the darkness. A moment or two later, an ODOT Incident Response truck pulled over and a man began placing flares around the perimeter of our cars. The man in the business suit grinned sheepishly and confided that he didn't even have flares in his car. I told him that I didn't either and made a mental note to buy some emergency supplies to stash in the trunk in case of future incidents.

Three firefighters complete with oxygen tanks strapped to their backs inspected the car inside and out and pronounced it safe. Now the three of us felt foolish for calling them. "Better safe than sorry," one of the firefighters said. Besides that, the poor woman's insurance wouldn't send a tow truck without their approval.

The man in the business suit and I decided we could now safely leave the lady in the care of the authorities. The lady gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and thanked me for being one of her "rescuers." I told her I was just glad she was okay and nothing worse happened than some smoke and a few flames.

I was ready to head for home, but was a little nervous about how I was going to get up to speed on the freeway without getting rear-ended from an oncoming car. It was dark and starting to rain and I didn't have much room to accelerate as the woman's car was in front of me and the ODOT truck was behind me.

It turned out that I didn't have to worry about that because when I turned the key in the ignition, the car didn't start. The dashboard lights flickered a bit, but that was all. Oh well, I thought, at least there are people here to help me! I hopped out and walked over to the ODOT man's truck. Now I was feeling very foolish indeed. The "rescuer" had suddenly become the person in need of rescue. I told the man that my battery must have drained from leaving my lights on. I guessed we had been out there longer than I'd thought. He very kindly offered to give my battery a jump, and help me on my way. He hooked the cables up and the engine started when I turned the key in the ignition. Success! I got out to thank him while he unhooked everything, but when I got back in the car, the engine had died again. I tried turning the key but got nothing but the flickering dashboard lights again. Hmmm. Now I was worried that I would be stranded! The ODOT man very kindly hooked the cables up again between my car and his truck and this time when the engine started, I was quick to get the car going as soon as he removed the cables and shut the hood for me. I waved a quick thank-you and he gave me a thumbs-up to indicate that the lane was clear for me to head back onto the freeway. I drove the rest of the way home worrying that the car would stall at any red lights I came across, but it didn't and I made it the rest of the way home without incident.

The whole thing made me think about people and about how lately I have been seeing more of the "wrong" or "bad" things that people do--perhaps a result of the daily stresses of my job, perhaps from reading too many depressing news articles. But what happened tonight brought home to me the fact that there are many kind people in the world--strangers who will pull over to make sure another stranger is okay when there seems to be a problem; firefighters who are "just doing their jobs" yes, but who don't make the rest of us feel dumb for calling them out to investigate a car that was briefly on fire but is now just "smoldering" (as the man in the business suit put it) on the side of the road; ODOT men who give a girl's car battery a jump and express concern that she stay away from the side of the car next to the lane of rushing traffic. These are all small kindnesses, but they make me happy and give me hope that there is more good in the world than perhaps I am used to seeing. If I make it a conscious habit to notice these small kindnesses more, I wonder if I will feel better about the world I live in and the people I share it with.

My guess is I will.