Member-only story
Random Kindness of others “Your back light is out”
A story of looking out for each other
By Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi
It is a truly wonderful experience when you become a part of a random act of kindness, of others because they pay attention to your needs and safety.
Recently, I had received one of those random acts of kindness from a stranger driving by next to me. He was honking and waving and yelling at me until he got a reply from me. Even after I told him thank you, I got it, he repeated a few more times that it was my left back break light that was out.
It felt really good that he was watching out for me and the safety of others. It is almost like an unspoken code amongst people who drive.
If you have any care and kindness in your heart, you watch out for the safety of yourself as well as others while driving. Telling others that their light is out, back door is open, gas cap is open, they forgot something on the top of their car, or something seems wrong with their tire have been the most common acts I seen and experienced personally.
The interesting thing is that we just replaced the back right break light a few weeks ago. It is a mystery why did it go out again. Maybe it just did so I can have this experience as a reminder.
Of course, the story does not just end here.
When I was driving toward Astoria recently. Just a few days after the black light out experience there was a truck in front of me hauling a boat. On the back, there were some straps holding things down. It was unclear if the strap was for something inside or outside. I was trying to figure out how to tell the driver. I was not able to do so for a while as there was only one lane and could not figure out any way to get his attention.
I was thinking it would be cool if there was a way to let him know. In the meantime, I was just watching and hoping nothing will fly off from his boat. At least the other strap on the opposite side was still secured. I decided to go farther than I needed to and go into town until the lane split into two lanes and I could get next to him.
The funny thing was that still makes me laugh now is that when I waved to the driver, he waved and smiled…
