Why don’t we help people any longer?
By: marky in FTW & WTF? & bad form & bullshit
I will say it proudly, I am terrified of flying. Absolutely terrified. I kid you not I actually cry when I have to be in an airplane. That is why I Drive to Las Vegas from Reno when business takes me that direction. I am OK with the extra time it takes from my life as I am really that terrified of flying.
Some weeks ago Miller with CDW and I were talking and we were discussing how he was riding around and saw a young lady (kid like 7 years old) wrecked her bike and skinned her knee. They picked her up and her bike and took her home to make sure that she would be ok they hung out with the parents for a few minutes. And all was well. I had commented to him that on the west coast we would NEVER do something like that as we would be sued for some ridiculous reason. That is why us west coast people are considered complete asses, because we are actually afraid to help.
So to the meat of the story…
I was driving to Vegas and it was about 6:30AM. Just at twilight. I have my music blaring and enjoying life NOT FLYING. About 10 Miles outside of Tonopah I notice a van on the side of the road. That is very common on US95 as people are just too tired and pull over. There is a Woman outside of the van. As I am driving past I think she waved. I am not sure but I think she did.
In my head I think “godammn you Miller!” and I turn around. I pull up beside her and ask if she is ok. She suprisingly responds NO.
She had ran out of gas 10 miles from Tonopah. She had taken a wrong turn somewhere and just hadn’t seen a gas station for a long time.
Now the cynic in me thinks, I am about to get scammed. Well keep my guard up!
In our small talk getting her to a gas station I discover that she had been there for 3 hours. Nevada Highway Patrol said they wouldn’t bring her gas so she was effectively stranded. She was going home to Mexico, and she had 3 kids (don’t worry one was a teen) in the car. If you don’t know the Nevada desert is flippin’ cold in the middle of the night. She and her kids had been freezing this whole time.
We get to the gas station. She vanishes. Whatever, I will get my gas and if she needs a ride back I will do it. I walk into the gas station to use the facilities, and she was at the ATM pulling money out, she had already used her own Credit Card to buy the gas can. She yells across the gas station “Would you like something warm to drink?”. I was good.
I took her back to her van when she was ready, and there was a NVHP sitting there with his lights on. I am thinking the story was too good to be true. Now I am going to have to explain why this woman was not with her children and perhaps even get myself in trouble.
I get out of the car as does the trooper. “Thank you for picking her up, I was 2 hours away when I got the call. No one ever stops any more” he says to me. My jaw hit the desert floor. I commented that I would hope that someone would help my wife or kids had this happened to them.
Upon reflection of this incident I question, is this the norm and we are just afraid of the sensationalistic news we see and the frivolous law suits we see coming out of our neighboring state California or is this the exception and I should have ended up chopped up into pieces in a bag somewhere in the desert for helping someone?
What significantly changed between the “old days” when people were willing to help those in need and today when we are all afraid of either getting in trouble for something we didn’t do, getting hurt, or scammed? Is the percentage of scammers and griefers that much bigger or is the news and terrible things in the world just in front of us when it didn’t used to be? I don’t know.
