A few weeks ago Matt took off early on Friday, and after we picked up Nate from school we took the boys to the zoo. It was a very pretty day, and we all had a great time. We didn’t end up leaving the zoo until almost 5:00pm, so by the time we got closer to our house it was past dinnertime, past bedtime for Will, and both boys were tired and cranky.
We were less than five minutes from our house, making our way through the traffic that had picked up from everyone else going home, too, when we found ourselves stuck behind a guy whose car had died right in the middle lane of the very busy street we were all on. Everyone was going around him, trying to just get past this little hold up and get on with their evening.
And oh how easy it would have been for us to do that as well. I mean, both boys were just ready to get home, and Mommy and Daddy were just as ready to get them home. But instead of rushing to get around this guy, Matt stopped the car, got out and walked up to see if he could help in some way. I guess they determined the best course of action was to just get the car out of the middle of the street while this guy worked to get someone to come help him. So the boys and I watched as the guy steered, and Matt, all by himself, pushed this car (it was actually kind of a mid-size SUV) up a little ways to the nearest side street so they could get it off the busy street it was currently blocking.
Cars on the left side continued to go around, while the cars on the right side stopped to let Matt push this car into their lane and onto that side street. It was nice that they at least stopped to let him get through, but no one else stopped to help him push this car. Dozens of cars passed and watched as he pushed this car, but no one else stopped to help.
The whole time I sat in our car with the boys, and they both watched silently as their Daddy pushed a car all by himself. I told them what he was doing, how he stopped because that man was in trouble and his car was broken, and Daddy wanted to see if he could help him in some way. I wanted them to understand what was happening, how it would have been so much easier to have just left this man stranded as we went on our merry way, but how the right thing was to stop and see if the man needed help.
I think Nate really understood it, because just the other day we were headed to the gas station, and Nate asked why we always needed to get gas. I told him that the gas was what made our car go, and that if we didn’t stop and get gas we would run out and our car would stop working. Then he said, “Like that man that Daddy stopped to help?” ”Yes,” I told him, “just like that.”
My sweet husband has so many wonderful qualities, all of which I hope and pray my boys will one day have as well. I hope this experience will stick with them and remind them that it is always better to do what is right, not what is most convenient, and that helping others when we can is always the right thing to do. They saw their Daddy putting this into action, and I hope that as they grow older they will do the same.
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