The Bonehead Of The Week Award Goes To...

...me!

On Saturday I took my girls to the YMCA to go swimming. The have been begging me for weeks to go, so I finally relented. As we were driving through the parking lot looking for a spot, I noticed a lady backing out. I thought, "Great, I'll take her spot". However as she was backing up I noticed one of her front tires was nearly flat. So I chased her through the parking lot, honking my horn until she stopped. I got out and told her she had a flat tire, to which she replied "I thought something felt strange". I examined her tire and found a nail had punctured it. I explained to her that she could take it to a service station and buy some fix-a-flat which would keep it inflated long enough for her to take it to a tire shop to have it worked on. She thanked me several times and assured me she didn't live far away, and that she would take it slow. As she left and while I was still feeling good about myself, a sickening thought came to my mind. "Why didn't you just tell her to pull over into one of the side lots where it's empty and change the tire yourself? I'm sure she has a spare (even if it's a donut spare) in the trunk." By this point, she was long gone. It never crossed my mind while I was talking to her that I could have (and should have) done something more.

The really sad part is that this example too often illustrates my life. I'm very eager to analyze the situation and find solutions to a problem, but rarely will I get my hands dirty helping out a neighbor. I can say with all sincerity that my inaction was not intentional. Being of a phlegmatic temperament, it's my nature to not get involved. It's just the way I'm wired. But on this day, my inaction was to me, later, like a slap in the face. I'm embarrassed and saddened to admit to you that I sent this lady on in a potentially dangerous situation with a smile on my face and a "God bless you" attitude in my heart, when I should have been rolling up my sleeves, as it were, to do what I'm perfectly capable of doing. Forget about being a good Christian - I don't even feel like a good citizen. But my hope in relaying this story is that we would all be more mindful of the opportunities that pop up around us to be able to help our neighbor. That those of us who tend to be observers would step up to the plate, bat in hand. Even if we miss, at least we went down swinging.