Changes that can’t be measured

[dgc1963]

Sad state of affairs for something like this to happen what in the world is our country becoming
When I see anyone broken down I ask if I can help its just the right thing to do

 

[np307]

Last spring I was turkey hunting and had a flat. Put the spare on, it was flat. Got my compressor out and it was dead. No cell service in the area so I started walking. Jacked up truck rolls by and I flagged him down. Plenty of tools and stuff so I asked if he had a compressor I could use. He says no and asked if I was from around there before driving off. Ended up walking up to an older couple's house and the guy didn't even ask questions, told me to hop in the car and drove me to pick up my tire and took me into town to get things taken care of.

Not 2 weeks later I was going to the store and saw an older lady on the side of the road with a flat. She wasn't completely out of the road and traffic was slowed down because of it. I got out and asked if she needed help and she said she did. Got her spare put on and sent her on her way. Kinda irritated me that all those people passed by and obviously saw someone who needed help but didn't stop.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Big sigh, that's all I got in me after reading this.

 

[recon6036]

Wow, Hard to believe nobody would help a guy out.
I responded to a motorcycle crash a couple days ago. By the time I got there, maybe 3 minutes response, no less than 5 passerby’s had stopped to help the injured operator. Even had a few guys help move to motorcycle to the shoulder of the road.
Still lots of good friendly people here in the U.P. thankfully

 

[hank4elk]

Fear.
I was on way home Fri. from the Pie shop and there was a new truck on the side of the road. Flat. Dirt hwy and in the ditch to the axle.
I pulled up behind them and got out. The big guy had his hand on his hip/gun.
I said howdy and opened my door and got my ten ton jack out and said "Good luck getting the factory jack under there". As I was getting the shovel out the 3 boys from the Redtail ranch in their truck stopped and they jumped out and took the shovel from my hand and the jack and had the flat changed in 15 min.
The new to neighborhood couple just stared at me and the boys. The boys(13 14 16) just put the tools back in my truck and headed home.
The big guy's wife just stumbled out the word,Thanks. I replied thank your neighbors. Those kids live on the ranch a few miles from the place they just bought. I also suggested he get some ten plys if he's planning on staying, got in the truck and left.
Guy just kept staring at me hand on his hip. Texicans .

 

[FreezerHunter]

I’ve stopped and helped with mixed results…

I was in college and stopped to help a guy on I-70. His wife was in the car with what I would later notice is at least a case of empty beer cans. He said he just needed a jump. I said I would use the “driveway” of sort ahead to turn around so his cables would reach. I thought he was joking when he said he would “stop traffic”. Nope. He walks out in the middle of the interstate and tried to stop traffic. I was never more relieved to see the sheriff deputy pull up.

Another time it was 98 and about as humid as possible and an elderly couple (80’s plus) were trying to change a tire. He was standing next to the car with his walker and she was trying to get the spare out of the trunk. Maybe she regularly changes tire, but from my perspective they had zero chance of getting that tire changed by themselves. I changed the tire. We chatted while I worked and found out he was a retired superintendent from a district just down the road from where I teach. They wanted my address so I shared. I got a card in the mail with a $5 McDonald’s gift card for helping. Used it for ice cream cones for the family!

So, I’m selective about helping, but I probably would have helped you push your Jeep.

 

[noharleyyet]

I’m a soft touch and have been burned but good karma has offset the balance.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Maybe next time you don't shoot a tank of a ram in an unlimited and let everyone know?

I bet that's what it was: horn envy.

Jerks.

 

[Nick87]

Woman stranded in the ditch in a blizzard- "thanks for stopping to help"

Me- "I couldn't leave a pregnant lady on the side of the road"

Woman-"I'm not pregnant!"

Me- "your not out of the ditch yet either"

Sorry couldn't help it.

 

[noharleyyet]

Maybe next time you don't shoot a tank of a ram in an unlimited and let everyone know?

I bet that's what it was: horn envy.

Jerks.

Signature checks out...

 

[D4570]

I really miss the old days.
When I was a kid 60+ years ago the family was out Antelope hunting in the badlands of central MT. If anyone has ever hunted around Winnet or Jorden You know that cows way outnumber people and ranches are sized on hundreds of sections. Anyway, we were all piled in in old nomad wagon hunting and the fuel pump went out. Many miles from a town or even a house. We got on a nob and we could a ranch so me and Grampa started walking Houres later we got there. And of course, no one was around not even the ranch dog. The house was unlocked the shop was wide open.
We really gave a good try to find anyone to no avail.
There was an old Dodge truck parked by the shop and the keys were in it.
We left a note explaining our predicament and took the truck and drove into Winnet. Back then there were "Things" in Winnet. Found a shop and they had a fuel pump. Paid for it and went in to grab some food for Grandma and the rest of the kids. While in the restaurant we asked if the rancher was around explaining the issue. The counter gal told us he was next-door getting supplies. We went over and found the owner of the truck and explained. He said WOW you walked that far? Glad you found the truck. He also said to stop by the shop on the ranch and grab any tools we needed and when Finished please park the truck about where it was with the keys in it...

That's it.

People were different back then. we did leave a twenty on the seat of the truck when we parked it.

Thinks like that stick in a young boy's head forever. I always stop to see if I can help.

 

[David658]

Stop to help, it depends. Not really sure how I make the call, but I don't always stop.

And having AAA is worth the money. Here in NM, I have the 250-mile tow option, because it's real easy to be way far away here.

 

[DouglasR]

A few weeks ago, while passing through a small town on a 2 lane highway on my way to work, Vecna punched through a gateway and uppercutted this old lady who was digging in her yard straight onto her ass.
There was really nowhere safe to pull over.
I still feel bad about it.

 

[Sytes]

Up in Canada with my MT plates, passed a car that was pulling a small trailer with a shredded tire. Wife and I spun around at the next exit and re-routed back to the guy. Chatted with him as I viewed the trailer and we hoisted it upside-down, tongue out the rear and followed him to his father's house.
Mainly French speaking though once all was done and we were about to leave, the mother came out, handed us some goodies of this and that sort, and received a thank you that seemed extremely excessive. They commented on our license plates as well and shared the rarity of gestures to assist others.
Long story, short: Friends made that also shared some great fishing locations - map and "x" marks the spots! Nice unexpected bonus.

What a bummer, Gomer. I'm stunned people can look in another person(s) eyes and say "no" with a clear conscience. As others mentioned, seems to be gaining traction and amounting to a thing of the past.

*Side note: On the flip side, my wife passed a guy with a cycle - apparent fall, scuffed up, as he asked for help. My wife passed him and shouted she would call for assistance once back in cell range. IMO, the right call. There's a time and place where safety is utmost.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I never help persons who approach me in a parking lot. You’d basically need to be on fire or spurting blood to catch my attention.

The # of scammers who come to you with some kind of crack story is astronomical. I’ve probably been hit up 150+ times.

If someone is stalled on the road or stuck, I often stop. I carry a chain, comealong and other tools, and they get use.

Standing next to a propped open hood is a good signal to get others to stop. We had a belt go out in Custer, SD last month and it was a couple hours before someone stopped, but eventually they did (I didn’t need anything, but encouraging that some people still care).

 

[HONEYBADGER]

I had a pretty disappointing experience with society today.

Coming back home in my older Jeep I stopped to grab a pizza. When I came back out, the jeep would not start. I checked the fuses and made sure the battery connections were good, the wiring to the starter - all of that. Didn’t have much for tools on me and I’m not very mechanical anyways but it wasn’t those things.
It’s a manual but the parking lot is flat. I figured if I could get it going good enough I could probably compression start it, but I’d need a little help pushing it. I asked a couple people but they wouldn’t help me so I grabbed my water and walked home. After getting home and drinking some more water and letting it cool down to around 105, I rode my bike back down there to get my valuable stuff out of it and/or hopefully find some useful people that would help me. I brought cash.
The very first group I asked were four young men that couldn’t have been older than 19.
I asked them if they would give me 30 seconds of their time to push my jeep. They said no. I pulled a wad of cash out of my pocket and offered them $50 apiece. The one said “Nah bro. We good“

Over the next few minutes I asked a few other people who either ignored me or said no.

Then, walking out to the newer, lifted Chevy pick up beside me came a large , clean cut man, well over 6 foot who clearly lifts weights and maybe does a few steroids, with a very large stainless semi-auto handgun strapped to his hip, open carrying like so many do down here. I figured I was in luck. He would be strong and certainly not afraid of me, at 5’ 11” 155 pounds dripping sweat in the parking lot.

Nope. This guy wouldn’t even look at me either. Completely ignored me.

The jeep is no big deal. It’s like 2 miles away from my mechanic’s, is being towed there in the morning and whatever it is, is some small electrical issue. He’ll have it going Tuesday for a couple hundred dollars.


The point of this post is that when people from small towns, like the one I am from in Montana complain about how outsiders are changing their state, you can point to things that are easy to measure that are changing. An increase in applicants for your favorite Hunting District, the median price of a home in Bozeman being over $800,000. The number of acres that have been closed, often illegally, by fly-in/fly-out, nonresident, billionaire landowners.

I’m talking about the things that are harder to measure. If this would’ve happened in Huson or Frenchtown or Drummond or Phillipsburg, or Butte or even Billings, I would not have even had to ask for help. Every self-respecting man and most of the women that witnessed this would have offered their help without a second thought.

If you live in a small town with a sense of community, fight like hell to keep it. Because once it turns into a place like Maricopa, Arizona, that is gone.
My first thought is that these people are cowards and pussies, but that’s not it. It’s just a cultural thing and let me tell ya… The culture in the small towns that we are from sure beats the hell out of this culture.

There was a brilliant statement on this type of thing from FBI most wanted fugitive Whitey Bulger after he was caught. He was asked by law enforcement where he spent life on the run and how he managed to avoid capture for so long. His response was spot on.

He said most people who go on the run immediately want to head for the woods and find some small town, that was a bad decision in his mind. He said every small town he tried to spend time in people were always talking to him, asking him questions, where you from? What do you do for a living? Need help moving your stuff? Hey that's a nice car, are you a car guy? Where is your accent from?

Questions someone like Whitey who spent almost two decades as the most wanted man in America was uncomfortable having to face. He found safety in large cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Diego. He said the anonymity of life there was perfect for a guy like him. He could live next to his neighbors for years and never know anything about them, nor they him. He could go to a store and not face questions from the clerk or other shoppers. Nobody cared who he was, what he did for a living, where he was from etc. He lived a somewhat normal life, went to the beaches, took in movies, just hiding in plain sight.

Brilliant insight on the differences in lifestyles depending on where you found yourself. Easy to see how mass migration from one type of place to another would change things quickly. Sad to watch it happen.

Additionally if you want to live life as a fugitive Whitey said three other things that will get you caught were snitches, females, and phones.......his ultimate undoing was by his very own girlfriend running her mouth to a friend.

 

[Bullshot]

On a family vacation once my Dad’s old RV broke down frequently. He could fix most anything, and did, but the broken fan belt (texas I think) had him caught without a spare. A local guy stopped to help, and then drove off to his ranch, returning a while later with an armload of belts to try to match one up, which one did. I often think about that guy taking an hour out of his day for a NJ plated RV and realize how unlikely that is to occur for me again.

I’ve helped pull or push a few stuck vehicles on my travels and will try to help again when situation presents. But I also run through the thought process of whether the situation seems authentic and safe… nearer to cities and later at night increase odds dramatically that I’d let AAA take the call.

 

[Randi]

I never help persons who approach me in a parking lot. You’d basically need to be on fire or spurting blood to catch my attention.

The # of scammers who come to you with some kind of crack story is astronomical. I’ve probably been hit up 150+ times.

If someone is stalled on the road or stuck, I often stop. I carry a chain, comealong and other tools, and they get use.

Standing next to a propped open hood is a good signal to get others to stop. We had a belt go out in Custer, SD last month and it was a couple hours before someone stopped, but eventually they did (I didn’t need anything, but encouraging that some people still care).

I know it is hard for those a bit older than I to understand and I sympathize, but things have changed. My grandparents always stop, whether it is in a parking lot or on a road. Even my father will stop if someone is broke down on a road, especially a country road. But I will not. Nor do I look at or even acknowledge those who approach me in a parking lot. If they look like they need help on the road, I will sometimes stop, with all doors locked and the window rolled up and ask them if I can call someone for them. I have had several, what I consider close calls, the last one being a fellow who had his hood up and I stopped and ask if I could help and a second guy shows up from around the parked car, grabbed himself and said " there is something you can do for me" and they both laughed. And, this was not in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, but in Texas

 

[noharleyyet]

On a family vacation once my Dad’s old RV broke down frequently. He could fix most anything, and did, but the broken fan belt (texas I think) had him caught without a spare. A local guy stopped to help, and then drove off to his ranch, returning a while later with an armload of belts to try to match one up, which one did. I often think about that guy taking an hour out of his day for a NJ plated RV and realize how unlikely that is to occur for me again.

I’ve helped pull or push a few stuck vehicles on my travels and will try to help again when situation presents. But I also run through the thought process of whether the situation seems authentic and safe… nearer to cities and later at night increase odds dramatically that I’d let AAA take the call.

Texans do their best to help NJ folks keep rolling.

 

[crock239]

Man, sorry to hear of those troubles. I'm also conditioned to say no or ignore in a parking lot, sadly just jaded these days.

Maybe, they saw sweaty dude ride up on bike and say "hey let's jump start this jeep so i can drive off in it", and thought you might be trying to steal it and didn't want to be tagged as accomplice....stranger things have happened.

Regardless, sorry that happened and hopefully theres a good Samaritan in your near future to restore the faith...