What would you do?

by FMZ 53 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  LittleToe

  Noble.

  But in this day and age, high risk.
  You took the risk and did good...
• 

  Undecided

  I'm bad about this myself, I pick up people who need rides quite often, only if I'm alone so no one else could be harmed. It just gives me a good feeling to help someone like that. I sort of let my instinct determine if I should. I've gone 20 miles out of the way to help them get to a destination if I felt they needed to get there for a good reason. I'm getting more cautious though lately, too many people getting killed around here.

  Ken P.
• 

  confusedjw

  It is what I would have done up until the mid to late '80's

  Now I would not. Too much risk.

  I don't feel good about it, but for me wife, family, reputation is worth far more than my feelings of guilt.

  ( The world I knew and loved ended in 1914 - ha ha - that's a load of FeMZ ! )
• 

  cruzanheart

  You did a good thing, FMZ. Yes, it could have turned out badly, but I'm a firm believer of doing what your heart tells you to do at the time. Once upon a time, when our best car was a 1987 Crown Victoria (and this was 1998), I got a flat on the highway during rush hour traffic, with our two little kids in tow. Also, this was the middle of a hot Texas summer. Well, I didn't want to change the tire with them sweltering in the heat, so I started walking to a hotel that was less than a quarter of a mile away. A man in a pickup truck stopped and offered us a ride, and I refused. Jennie, always inquisitive, wanted to know why we didn't get in with him, so I gave her a long lecture on "stranger danger." Just as I was winding up that eloquent speech, a middle-aged woman stopped, got out, handed me her cell phone (I didn't have one at the time -- how did we ever survive without them?) and said she couldn't stand to see the kids in the heat so could she please give us a ride to our house? That one I accepted, but I had to spend double the time later explaining to Jennie why I got into that woman's car, because she was a stranger too. One of my friends told me I should have said, "oh, that's your Aunt Susan -- don't you remember her?"!

  Anyway, in my book you're noble. Just think, if you HADN'T picked her up, who knows what could have happened to her! The next guy might not have been noble at all.

  Nina
• 

  desib77

  I've done this once for a woman who had her child with her and said she needed a ride to the convenience store. She said once I dropped her off she could call someone that would come to get her. Once we got there she asked me for money. Not knowing what kind of situation I may have actually been in I gave her a few dollars.

  She very well could have done something to me if I hadn't given her the money. You really have to be careful in situations like that......I know I have learned to be.
• 

  Xena

  I echo LT's sentiments.
• 

  myauntfanny

  I'm with LT, it was noble AND risky (well, if it wasn't risky it wouldn't be noble either, would it?). But just a little risky. I agree with the people who said that your intuition won't lead you far wrong. You'd have probably had a feeling if she was dangerous. Some little thing would have struck you funny. What's really risky is ignoring that feeling. Remember the English girl who was killed by the bus driver? She told friends beforehand that there was something off about him. I know when I've gotten in trouble it's because I ignored a bad feeling, not because I didn't have a clue.
• 

  Princess

  You obviously don't watch Six Feet Under.

  I agree with SP. I don't think it was very smart at all. You just can't be too careful these days. I'm glad it turned out all right for you.
• 

  bikerchic

  FMZ I told you a bit of the story of my Dad who picked up two hitchhikers, let me add the detail to it. Only for the benefit of those who are saying somehow you'll just know, doing a good and noble deed is well, good and noble.

  It was 1966 or '67 not sure which, my Dad was driving home from a bar about 1 am. He had been drinking and surely shouldn't have been behind the wheel, but this was not unusual for him as to find him sober was the most unusual thing.

  He was about 10 miles from the nearest city and on a lonely two lane stretch of road when he passed a car parked off on the shoulder going in the same direction as him. A few miles down the road he sees a couple, a man and a woman walking so he figured they were out of gas or broke down and offered them a ride to the city. The woman got in the front seat and the man got in the back, my Dad was a pipe fitter/welder and had some tools on the floor behind him. They came to a four way stop and while stopped the man hit my Dad over the head with a pipe wrench several times. They removed his watch, wallet and a few other things of value, and then tossed him out of the car and took off leaving him near death on the side of the road.

  Sometime later a cop on patrol found my Dad and took him to the hospital where he had hundreds of stitches and was treated for other minor cuts and bruises. His car was found a couple of days later abandoned with his wallet inside only the money was gone. The other car that he had passed that night on the shoulder of the road, it was also stolen by the same couple ran out of gas and abandoned. As far as I know the couple was never found.

  maf said:

  I agree with the people who said that your intuition won't lead you far wrong. You'd have probably had a feeling if she was dangerous. Some little thing would have struck you funny. What's really risky is ignoring that feeling.

  One could say that being drunk my Dad wasn't fully aware of the danger this couple may have posed, which could be the case. My Dad always liked to help others out by putting himself in their place. He didn't offer rides to strangers any longer and it made quite an impression on me and my brothers and sisters seeing the results first hand, it was aweful seeing my Dad all swollen, stitched up and in pain.

  This was the 60's a couple of days before this happened my girlfriend and I had thumbed a ride on Pacific Coast Hwy by a stranger, we thought it was fun and were planning to do it a lot more until that happened to my Dad. I never hitch hiked again and always warned everyone of the dangers of doing it or picking up hitch hikers. Just me, we all have our experiences and comfort zones.

  Giving strangers rides isn't the only gallant, noble or kindest thing one can do there are plenty of things you can do that are less risky. It's sad to say but in the society we live in today I would rather err on the safe side and use my cell phone to call a cab maybe paying for the cab fare, I donno?

  Kate
• 

  Princess

  Wow, that's quite an experience Kate.

  If I thought the woman was in trouble then I would have called for help on my cell. 911. While what Keith did was kind, it was incredibly risky and their are other ways to help.

  Had the genders been reversed, everyone would have said it was crazy and not the least bit noble.