Get Stranded In Utah And Be Surprised By Kindness of Strangers

Feeling Isolated? A Breakdown Could Be Your Breakthrough

Have you felt isolated from society recently? Do you wish you could feel the warmth of the kindness of strangers? Well, here is a life hack that continuously works for me especially in the West, where there are so many nice strangers.

Go for a drive in an iffy vehicle and let it break down. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but we had the "good" fortune of breaking down over the weekend, and, as you can probably guess, the goodness of people was revealed in a way that warmed our hearts.

In our case, we have an aging van. Though it probably needs to be replaced, we love it, and since it’s paid off, we keep using it and taking our chances. Over the weekend, the alternator went out while my family and I were on our way to meet some friends. This caused the automatic transmission to stop shifting gears because we were only running on battery power. We found a parking lot, and I thought maybe turning the van off and on could reset things. At this point, I hadn’t realized the real problem.

As you might have guessed, the van wouldn’t restart. I was upset, and my first reaction wasn’t admirable, but it was better than how I’ve reacted in the past—progress is progress, right?

While I was trying to figure out what to do, an older gentleman stopped and tried to help me troubleshoot. We didn’t figure it out, but his taking the time to try and help was nice. It slowed me down enough to recognize the help of a very nice man from Mexico named Caesar. He tried to help us fix the van, told us he worked nearby and would watch over it until we could get it towed, and even gave us a ride home in his car. We also found out that our mechanic friend is still working. It would be hard to list all the kindnesses we experienced, all because of this breakdown.

Read More: Viral Street Photographer Brought to Tears by Woman’s Kindness

Give it a try sometime—being stranded slows you down, and every time it happens (thanks, old van), we’re helped in ways beyond our expectations.