Good Samaritan

No teeth? No problem.

Posted on by Phil Corbett

I am impressed!

Through her recent travels, my wife has become very adept at navigating airports and the entire airline process. Whether it is finding the cheapest flights, finding a place to park or knowing the best places to eat in the airport, I have a feeling the next time we take a flight together, I will be keeping my mouth shut and just following her lead. (That is if I am smart enough, which is questionable.)

There is still room for improvement regarding ground transportation, though. She has made great strides in this area but, from time to time, she finds herself in some interesting predicaments, if not scary.

To be fair, her struggle to overcome her directional disability is a daunting challenge because she inherited it from a close relative. Once, on a trip to Milwaukee, this close relative chose to follow a car to Chicago instead of taking the Milwaukee exit because the driver of the car ahead seemed to know where she or he was going.

Well, on a recent trip to Chicago, this disability once again reared its ugly head. My wife was given detailed instructions on how to get from the airport to the place at which she was going to be staying. She made it through the airport all right but things went a little south when the instructions told her to take the bus to Lot F and take the train from there. As she entered the bus loading area, she noticed a group of people getting on a bus and she chose to follow them. After 15 or so minutes on the bus and no sign of a Lot F, she figured she had erred.

Realizing her mistake, my wife got off the bus at a train station and attempted to figure out how to get back to the airport to start all over again. She asked the bus driver and an employee of a coffee shop for help but for a variety of reasons, neither was able to provide much assistance.

Lost, scared, and alone in an unfamiliar city, her anxiety increasing with every minute she spent in the rather small train station, she fought back a panic attack as she walked from wall to wall looking at the maps to determine a way out of her nightmare. Feeling like a complete idiot (her words, not mine), her distress should have been obvious to the others at the station, but unfortunately, most were either oblivious to what was going on or seemed to be too busy staring into their smartphones to offer any assistance.

Finally, she noticed the only person talking to anyone in the station and looking friendly was a scruffy, disheveled man, his face weathered and wrinkled, who was missing his two front teeth. She asked him for help and to her relief, the man calmed her down and took the time to explain how to get back to the airport. After about 20 minutes of explaining what she needed to do, the man even walked her to the bus stop.

Feeling grateful to this Good Samaritan, my wife offered him some money for the help he provided, which he initially declined but reluctantly accepted after my wife insisted.

As they parted company, the man cautioned my wife to not talk to strangers because there are some scary people out there.

I wonder if the scary people to whom he was referring were the scruffy, disheveled people, with weathered and wrinkled faces, missing their front teeth or the nicely-dressed people with smartphones.

Honking and Helping

Posted on by Phil Corbett

Many years ago, a speaker at a conference asked the question, “Are you a honker or a helper?” Basically, what she meant was when the stoplight turns green and the car ahead does not move, is the first inclination to honk or to wonder if the driver needs help. She then spent some time relating her “honker or helper” theme to life, in general, asking what the conference attendees first inclination is when people do things that inconvenience or irritate them. Do they honk and complain or help and offer assistance?

I would suggest most all of us are faced with honking and helping situations every day. I know I am and I have honked way too many times. To be honest, though, I am choosing to help a lot more and honk a lot less, even seldom.

A few years ago, on a flight to North Carolina, a young mother sitting in the row in front of me was struggling with her rather loud and restless child. In an attempt to settle him down, she let him take out his video game, which only made things worse for those of us around him because he did not have any headphones. It should not take much to imagine the looks those nearby were giving the mother. Remembering what the woman at the conference said, I chose to help, rather than honk, and handed him the ear-buds to my iPod, which made the remainder of the flight much more enjoyable for all.

A few months later, on a family trip out East, I made the mistake of trying to drive through New York City on I-95 and traveled less than two miles in over two hours. Trust me, there were many opportunities to honk – and one to help. A minivan was stalled in the middle of the left lane, causing all vehicles to merge to one lane and slow traffic down even more. Instead of adding to the chorus of honking, I decided to park in front of the minivan and help the occupants push it to the side, allowing cars to drive by. As a Twins fan, had I known before I stopped they were Yankee fans going to an afternoon ball game, I may have changed my mind. Still, I am glad I chose to help rather than honk.

I know these examples are fairly minor but these are the types of situations we encounter all the time and you never know the ripple effect helping someone rather than honking will have on his or her day.

I do wonder, though, if Jesus were alive today and telling the Good Samaritan parable, instead of using the road to Jericho, wouldn’t the setting be a backed-up interstate, a crowded airplane or some other ordinary situation most of us encounter every day?