Random Acts of Kindness:

For people that know me, know that I don't pump gas. Ever!! I have pumped gas twice in my life and both were bad experiences. In my teen years of driving my friend, Sherie pumped my gas. But one day she decided she wasn't going to, so I proceeded to attempt to pump gas. This was at the Exxon Station by the drive-in on Highway 63 in Rolla. Just the mention of a drive-in movie states how long ago this was! I put $5.00 of gas in my Ford Maverick and the pump would not shut off. I had gas all over me, all over the car and all over the concrete. It would not shut off!! Fortunately, it wasn't my fault, the hose was messed up. I decided then and there, I was not pumping gas again.
And I hadn't, until 1987. Yes, I remember the year and the day!!
I had borrowed my father-in-law's truck to pick up a piece of furniture in Jefferson City. I noticed the tank was getting low so I looked along the way for a full service station. (hard to find!!) On my way home I knew I had to get gas and after still not finding a station that pumped gas, I stopped at the station on the east side of Jefferson City. I got out and tried to pump the gas. I did not know what to do, so I go inside and say, I'm kind of embarressed but I've never pumped gas before and I don't know what to do. She said she'd come out and show me. Well, she did and then I didn't!! The stupid pump shut off and I couldn't get it to work so I go back in and she said she would come out one more time but she wasn't suppose to leave the station unattended. She gets it going and then it stops. I didn't know what to do so I asked another lady who was pumping gas to help me. She got it going and then it shut off again. She must have took pity on me as she finished filling up the truck for me. When I go in to pay, (I kid you not!!), I had seven tickets. One for .79, one for a little more and then odd ball amounts until the bigger ticket of filling up the truck. I was so embarrassed and vowed to NEVER EVER attempt to pump gas again. And I don't!! I've even had young nieces and nephews pump for me and I know of every full service station around. And Felix at the Plaza in town pumps my gas, he takes pity on me. My family and friends tell me I need to learn to pump my own gas, but I disagree! I have drove home almost empty just to have Dwayne put gas in my truck rather than pumping my own or I will risk it and drive on in to Rolla to go to a full service station. I figure that is my one "luxury" of life. And in Oregon, it is against the law to pump your own gas (or it was in 2003 when I was out there). I love that state!!

Now on to the story of kindness:
I had pulled into Gas Plus in Rolla to get gas. They were busy and I had to wait in line. The car ahead of me had a flat tire and her spare (the itsy bitsy spare tire) was already on the other side of her car. She looked so stressed out and you could tell she didn't have alot of money and bad luck was on her side. They apologized for not being able to move the car out of the way. I told them that was fine, I wasn't in a hurry. (I mean, when you are getting your gas pumped for you, you wait patiently!! That's just the way it is). They pumped up her flat tire so she could move out of the way. I thought I should give her some money but when I looked in my billfold, I only had three dollars and I felt that was not enough money to even give someone, it would be like a slap in the face.
While the attendant was pumping my gas a very old barely running vehicle pulls up to the next pump. She only put in ten dollars of gas and told the attendant to take the other ten and give it to the girl with the flat tire. Now is that an act of kindness or what!! We (and I am also very guilty) assume people don't care anymore and we only hear of the bad things happening. This girl had almost no money but she was willing to give half of what she had to help someone else. We've all been down on our luck at times and remembering those times make you have more empathy toward others. This is wrong of me, but I wondered if someone had pulled in in a nice car and apparently had money, would they have helped this girl? Maybe, I'm not sure. I don't want to sound as if people that have money don't care, they do, but the profound thing for me was this girl that gave money also seemed to be down on her luck but she still extended a helping hand. It made an impact on me and reminded me of the movie, Pay It Forward.

Random acts of kindness-still done all the time, we just might not take the time to notice.