A moment of desperation for one...

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...allows an opportunity for an act of kindness for another.

Here's the semi-long story.

As you know, we went to DC for 4 days last week. The trip was just great. Being away is always fun, but coming home is a wonderful thing too.

We flew home Thursday, got off the plane, lugged our bags to where we parked the car and when I hit the remote to unlock the doors, nothing happened. Trying the button a couple more times and noticing that the red light on it was working but nothing was happening, we manually unlocked all the doors. With no alarm going off and no lights coming on, it became painfully obvious that our car battery was dead. Not a good thing to have to deal with ever, especially when you are really ready to go home. A moment of desperation has revealed itself.

What do we do? Stashing everything in the back seat and manually locking all the doors, we figured we would have to walk back to the warm airport, and call somebody for help. I noticed someone driving towards the place where we were parked and told my honey I was gonna ask for a jump. It was a company car with one person it and I flagged for him to stop. He did, thankfully, and I aked him for a jump. "Sure, no problem" was the response. "But we don't have jumper cables." "I do!" he replied. We pushed the car out of it's parking spot, and started chatting idly. Come to find out, he was on the same flight as we were. Five minutes later, we were up and running again. The act of kindness was done.

This scenario reminded me of the story of the Good Samaritan. I think many passed by the man who needed help. I can't help but wonder how many stopped to tell the man that they wished him well. Only one man chose to take action and help the man in his moment of desperation. Of all of them who were there, only one made a difference by acting in kindness.

I'll admit, it was weird to be on the receiving end of the story. I like to be the one who helps those in need, not be the one who is in need. But when the moment of desperation comes, no matter which side of it you are on, an opportunity for an act of kindness is there. We can take it or leave it. What will you do?