The Kindness of Strangers

Being stuck in miserable or desperate conditions seems to bring out the good in people. This afternoon or morning, I can't remember which, my mom and I were stuck on the highway with the intent to take me back to school, but because of an accident about an hour and a half outside the city were unable to really move anywhere for 24 hours. To conserve gas (we didn't know how long we would be stuck there) we turned our van off and would periodically turn it back on just to try and make sure we didn't freeze and the van didn't freeze, and thereby not start. This pattern continued throughout the night as well. We survived the night by bundling up in full winter clothing and an extra blanket and by turning the van off and on to generate some heat.

Things looked a bit better in the morning (maybe because of the light?). Late in the morning a guy on the emergency crew came around and was checking to see if we had enough fuel, etc. At that point we did for a while longer, and through more of the turning on and off of the van, could have lasted for maybe half the day. Then shortly after that, our neighbors, who had 4 by 4 trucks or suburbans decided to try their luck on the other side of the highway by going through the ditch. (The other side of the highway had been cleared). They successfully made it through, a little while later one of the guys comes back across the highway with a jerry can full of gas and asks us if we had enough fuel. We still did, but he offered it to us anyway which we gratefully accepted. These guys had periodically checked up on us the day before and had given us some information regarding the accident and what was going on in general. It was just really cool to see someone do that and for that and continued safety while travelling we thanked God. There were also some other guys who were driving a car and had gotten snow underneath and couldn't move really well. It didn't seem like they were incredibly prepared to be out driving in that kind of weather but whatever. So there were a few people who took some time to help dig them out or who offered a shovel so they could dig themselves out. So ya. It's just cool and interesting to see how different people respond to the forces of nature.

alissa