Wish I could go back and thank him today
I got a 30 day leave when I was in the Corps and left San Diego with $1.68 in my pocket and my thumb in the air. Two days later, I was in El Paso with 34 cents left in my pocket and asking truckers at a truck stop if they were headed towards Dallas/Ft. Worth, and could I get a ride.
One old trucker sitting at the counter said, "Take a seat son, I'll be heading that way in about a half an hour and your welcome to ride."
He then asked me to have a bite to eat while we waited, and I told him I was okay for now. He insisted, and I declined. He read me like a book and told me it was on him. Again, I declined.
He looked me in the eye and asked me how long I had been on the road. I told him two days out of San Diego, and he ordered a cheeseburger basket and told me if I didn't eat it, there would be no ride.
I scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow and we climbed into his truck. Ten hours later, we were at the Montgomery Ward Warehouse in Ft. Worth Texas. He paid me $40 (double what anyone would have done it for) to help him unload the trailer on the dock. I called my father from Ft. Worth and he picked me up in about an hour.
I sure wish I could find that trucker today and thank him properly. I never forgot his kindness in a time when soldiers were not the most respected men in America.
One old trucker sitting at the counter said, "Take a seat son, I'll be heading that way in about a half an hour and your welcome to ride."
He then asked me to have a bite to eat while we waited, and I told him I was okay for now. He insisted, and I declined. He read me like a book and told me it was on him. Again, I declined.
He looked me in the eye and asked me how long I had been on the road. I told him two days out of San Diego, and he ordered a cheeseburger basket and told me if I didn't eat it, there would be no ride.
I scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow and we climbed into his truck. Ten hours later, we were at the Montgomery Ward Warehouse in Ft. Worth Texas. He paid me $40 (double what anyone would have done it for) to help him unload the trailer on the dock. I called my father from Ft. Worth and he picked me up in about an hour.
I sure wish I could find that trucker today and thank him properly. I never forgot his kindness in a time when soldiers were not the most respected men in America.
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quote:Originally posted by dheffley
Wish I could go back and thank him today
You just did, Danny.0 -
Good story. One act of kindness can stay with you a life time. 0 -
You thanked him the entire time you served your country.
Dude he is just one of the few that paid you back!!!
Funny how you guys never seem to know how much America owes you. To quote Dickens, Old Marley "it is a ponderous debt".
That was a great story worthy of being on national news....too bad they choose to run trash...0 -
angels of the highways they are,especially the old ones. never approached one that wouldn't help you, and yes i think they can read minds. good story 0 -
Danny, that was a heartwarming story. Funny how as we get older, we remember the small, insignificant kindnesses that have been paid to us. We also tend to forget the slights. Maybe as we take inventory of our lives, we want to balance out the gestures with our thank-you's.
Those moments are fleeting. Sometimes we must be content with just knowing that we owe a debt to another ship we passed in the night.
As a child, a stranger pulled me from the surf when I was in danger of drowning. An English teacher taught me the value of literature. A Jamaican doctor brought me back from a heart attack. Like your truck driver, I doubt any of them expected much of a thanks for it. The human connection was their satisfaction, just to do good. We thank the people that have passed through our lives every day. By our remembering and, in turn, bestowing kindness upon others. Kindness, it ripples out from the source.
From tiny acorns, mughty oaks grow. That seems rather fitting.0 -
Want to thank him?
Pay it forward.0 -
quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
Want to thank him?
Pay it forward.
You know this makes 3 times this week.[;)]0 -
Danny there are a number of people that i would like to thank,in 59 i
left pendleton on greyhound to barstow calif. the first ride took me to the cut off from hwy 66 to hobbs.nm, then to amerillo tx. to st.louis mo.and then to hackensack.nj, i will never forget those people.but i have not thought about them untill i read your post.
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As others have said, PAY IT FORWARD! It may be a cliche but, it does good for both of you.
tobefree, I never thought that anybody owed me anything for my service. I thought it was what we are supposed to do. (not meant to be sarcastic or malicious, just the way I feel.)0 -
Good story. I was driving back from Keesler AFB in '89 and ran out of gas in northen Alabama. Limped into a truck stop with 5 bucks in my pocket. A truck driver loaned me $20 so I could get the rest of the way home to Indiana (gas was a lot cheaper back then). I'll never forget that. He looked like Santa Clause, no joke. 0 -
Danny, you strike me as a man who has already paid that good deed forward many, many times over the years. Wherever he is now, I'm sure he knows the kind of man you are and is very pleased within. 0 -
Good story. And I think by having lived a virtuous life, you already have.
Pass on that kindness as often as you can. We should all be so lucky not only to have received kindness in our lives, but to be in a position to visit it upon others.0
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