A Tale of Two People

by Jack

They are two everyday kind of people, unremarkable in most respects, but in their own way they made life a little better for a few folks who really needed it.

The first case is a Highway Patrolman by the name of Stephen Pace (see right).  It was a particularly cold morning in December of 2014 and there was fresh snow on the ground.  He spotted a stranded motorist parked off to the right side of the highway.   He pulled over and saw a young woman, an elderly man and three small children huddled inside the car.   The driver said her car had overheated, a bad radiator and they were stuck and without a phone.   By their appearance they didn’t have much money so he gave them all a ride home where a relative was able to retrieve the car.

An hour later he was giving another stranded motorist a ride home because they didn’t have cab money.  Officer Pace said this was just routine, nothing special and he was surprised he was even being interviewed.  He probably would have remained anonymous, except the distressed family was so grateful they called the local paper to let them know about Officer’s kindness.

The next case is about a tow truck driver by the name of Daniel Sadler (shown left).   As a tow truck driver, you might have guessed, he’s not well to do.  But, that didn’t stop him from doing something to help those with even less than himself.   Last month he started thinking about those people who had no homes or vehicles, who would be outdoors in the freezing temperatures.   In the spirit of the Christmas season he decided to use his tip money to buy cold weather items from the local dollar store and give them to needy people.  He hit the city streets and handed out free hats, gloves, scarves, blankets and socks. He was filled with such satisfaction that he decided to go out again later in the week.  Sadler said, some of these folks were crying, they were so thankful.

There are thousands of acts of kindness every day that go almost unnoticed here and around the world.   We sometimes forget the good in people when the bad dominates the headlines.   But, the fact is our desire to do good and our deep sense of compassion have always been a large part of our collective humanity.  And the really good news is our compassion and our capacity to do good works is still alive and well, despite what you read in the headlines.