The Kindness Of Strangers

Even with my parents gone, I'm kind of in a bad mood.  That's because I took them very early yesterday/Monday morning, and even though I had some time to have all-you-can-eat pancackes at IHOP, I was up so early I was tired by the time I got to work.  At least the blizzard relented until I got to work at 9, but by God, we got a direct hit -- I think there is about nine inches that fell in my area.  And, of course, the fucking loser Vikings.

I took it easy on my way home.  Went to the Megamall after work, but there were so many stores that weren't open, and Buffalo Wild Wings announced as I was there that were closing at 7:30.  That is a sign that this blizzard was big enough to bring even the Twin Cities to its knees.

After knowing I didn't have all night, I crawled up the metro area through sides streets.  Hit Cedar-Riverside.  I saw the Don't Walk blinking on a light in the Cedar-Riverside district and, stupid me, afraid that I'd slide through a red light, I slowed down.  Only then I realized that I was going up an incline and that this area wasn't plowed yet.  So when I got the green light, I was spinning my wheels and eventually tipping off to the side.  I tried backing up, but there was so much snow and such little traction that I was going nowhere.  Stupid fucking me.  I really was afraid that I was stuck there.

But then this dude comes running my way: "You need me to push you?"  It was hard for this one guy to push me.  I was laying down on my accelerator to the point it just didn't respond.  I tried digging more snow out from under my low-profile car, and I tried backing out.  But nothing worked.

Finally, after ten total minutes, this second dude comes from a side street to help out.  I moved over to the left side of the street, where incoming traffic would be coming.  Somehow, through the inches of the dirty snow, my tires got to some patch of pavement my tires could land on and drive on, and my car finally climbed out of the incline.

As I was driving up and away, I gave a thumbs-up through my open window.  And the guy who helped me first said something about Muslims.  You know, I don't know if they just happened to be there or if they were just hanging out to make sure people were getting through that intersection.  I can see that.  But if this was a way to demonstrate that Muslims are good guys ... As-salamu alaykum, brother.  You got me out of a jam I know I wasn't going to get out of.

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My car got stuck a second time when I tried driving up my driveway.  There was so much snow that my car just piled up the snow into a wall.  And then my car was skidding on snow and ice.

I took out my shovel and started clearing the snow around and underneath the car, which was askance just beyond the driveway, when my neighbor came over.  She had just come through and up the driveway, presumably from work.  "Can I help?" she asked.  "Sure, if you'd like," I replied, and after several minutes ... her son came out with a shovel because she told him to help me!  This family may be Muslim.  I never speak with them, to be honest.  They took the place of the family I knew there back when I was a kid.  But this dude, who I think is of high school age, was really helpful in shoveling enough of my driveway to get my car onto it.

Finally, I can't leave out my other neighbor, who, just like this guy, lives across the street.  He came over while the son was struggling to push my car onto the driveway.  He helped push it out onto the street so I could reorient it and finally get it up there -- well, at least onto the driveway that is clear of snow.  I remember him as the dad whose son tried to give my niece some candy when she was over last year and she refused.  It was the right time to apologize for her.

It takes a village to get through a blizzard like this.  But I have to admit that I wouldn't pull my weight.  I sure as heck wouldn't be outside to make sure people got through intersections or up their driveways.  I always minded my own business.  But dammit, I am so glad people didn't mind their own tonight.  Otherwise I would be stranded and alone.

The kindness of strangers is a powerful force.  It salvaged my day, and even turned it into a good one.  I have to appreciate them, and it should compel me to not fear the world, and to be a better person.