Surprised At Good Samaritan

Following is a letter that just needed writing....

I had a pleasant surprise this weekend. Late Sunday afternoon my 3 1/2 year old son and I headed off to Rona to buy some deck paint. On a whim, while in the store, I picked up 5 lattice panels for our patio. While standing outside my minivan trying to figure out how I was now going to fit 5 framed panels inside a space about 1/2 as big as I needed, I heard a voice behind me say 'where are you going?'

My first reaction was to respond with what may not have been so friendly of an answer. However I turned, smiled and said 'Hall Rd.'The gentleman grabbed our lumber cart and started rolling it towards a large flat bed truck just down from us saying 'I'll just throw it in the truck. . .' I was shocked... surprised... happy... fearful..... Before I could respond he was loading up onto his truck.

In this day and age I spend more time trying to explain the dangers of 'people' to my son, preparing him for the real world by teaching him to not leave our sides, hold my hand, don't talk to strangers etc. To have a complete stranger offer assistance like this was well outside of what I anticipate from most folks.

I quickly explained where our house was in case I lost him in traffic while following and pulled out of the parking lot. A few seconds later I had this sick sinking feeling in my stomach that perhaps he was driving off with my $100 worth of lumber to his own house. Sure enough, however, he pulled out behind and followed me home.

No sooner had I pulled into my driveway and started unbuckling my son than this gentleman had most of the lumber unloaded and stacked in my backyard.
It looked like he was in a hurry (it was 5pm and he was probably wanting to get home for supper) and I had to rush to introduce myself, shake his hand and thank him. I offered to pay him for his time/gas but he laughed it off and hopped into his truck to leave.

All I know about him is that his name is Gerry (please forgive me if I have mis-spelled it) and he drives a full size diesel flat deck truck. More importantly he obviously has a heart of gold and is a very good person as well.

This may all sound like a simple random act of kindness that helped me out of a minor jam. It did more than that however, it restored my faith in humanity. Kindness, selflessness, and caring do exist, and we have the capability to help one another.

I now have another lesson to teach my son. I don't know what else I can do to thank this fine stranger but to say that I will try a bit harder myself in the future to return this gesture by 'Paying it Forward' to someone else.

Ron Fuchs