This is a guest post by Wes Morgan.
A huge part of my optimistic outlook on life is the general belief that things will work out. You have to have faith, especially when you encounter adversity. You might consider a flat tire a relatively minor setback, but for me it is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to a person.
Twice inside of two weeks, I found myself with a flat tire. Both times the situation seemed hopeless but with the help and kindness of strangers, my outlook went from dread to an overwhelming faith in humanity.
Flat Tire #1
I was in St. Louis attending a business conference and anxious to start the day, I left my hotel with plenty of time for a visit to a coffee shop and drive downtown. My heart sank when I discovered my front right tire was flat… flat… flat. Almost like a guardian angel, a young man helped me wrestle with the spare tire. He asked for nothing in return. I must have looked pretty helpless. As the dawn started to break, I was able to find an open tire retailer. The problem was solved and I was still on time. I felt lucky. I felt fortunate. I was so happy to have the assistance of a perfect stranger. He said he was barber from St. Charles but to me he was an angel and a blessing.
Flat Tire #2
Less than two weeks, later I set out on another routine morning. This time I needed to complete some business in Joplin, where I live. A few blocks from my house, I ran over a spike or a nail. Flat tire again! I pulled into a grocery store parking lot. It felt hopeless. I must have looked pathetic in my business suit as I struggled with the jack and my efforts to loosen the lug nuts. It was raining. Almost like a divine intervention, a woman appeared. She used her cell phone to recruit her husband to help me loosen those lugs and change that tire. Blessed again!
A flat tire is not the end of the world. But if you are me, on a typical morning, fixing a tire is the last thing you are prepared for in the darkness of pre-dawn or during a rainy downpour. Good Samaritans took the aggravation out of those two flat tires. I will remember both of these acts of kindness and am determined to return the deeds with a couple of my own when I see someone in a jam. I am so happy there are such generous and loving people in the world. I want to be like them.
