Balog
Member
I was thinking about an incident that happened to my father and brother years ago, and about how it affected my attitude. Read the following tale, and then let me know if I'm overreacting.
Coming back from a fishing trip, Dad and my brother Mark saw an elderly man broken down on the side of the road. Since it was a fairly remote area, they decided to help. They walked back to talk to the old fellow and see what was going on. He explained the problems he was having (IIRC it was the engine overheating), and my Dad went back to our pickup to retrieve something that would solve the problem (IIRC a jug of water to put in the radiator). My brother was leaning over the side of the car looking into the engine compartment when he looked up to see that the old fellow had thrown down on him with a pump action twelve gauge . No reason for this as far as we can tell, the old guy was just unhinged. He backed slowly away, grabbed my Dad, and they took off outta there like a bat out of h3ll. The old guy didn't say a word, just covered them with the shottie until they were in the truck and leaving.
Ever since then, I've had a firm "I don't stop to help anyone I don't know, for any reason" policy. The only possible exception would be to intervene to stop a rape or assault, but never for simple mechanical problems.
I started to reconsider this policy one night when I passed an older gentleman on Interstate 10. It was the middle of the night, and he was in the right hand lane pushing his car. He didn't have his hazard lights on, and he was standing on the driver's side pushing and steering through the open door. I found out the next day that he was ran over and killed about fifteen minutes after I passed him.
So what say you THR'ers? Am I overreacting, or is my caution justified?
Coming back from a fishing trip, Dad and my brother Mark saw an elderly man broken down on the side of the road. Since it was a fairly remote area, they decided to help. They walked back to talk to the old fellow and see what was going on. He explained the problems he was having (IIRC it was the engine overheating), and my Dad went back to our pickup to retrieve something that would solve the problem (IIRC a jug of water to put in the radiator). My brother was leaning over the side of the car looking into the engine compartment when he looked up to see that the old fellow had thrown down on him with a pump action twelve gauge . No reason for this as far as we can tell, the old guy was just unhinged. He backed slowly away, grabbed my Dad, and they took off outta there like a bat out of h3ll. The old guy didn't say a word, just covered them with the shottie until they were in the truck and leaving.
Ever since then, I've had a firm "I don't stop to help anyone I don't know, for any reason" policy. The only possible exception would be to intervene to stop a rape or assault, but never for simple mechanical problems.
I started to reconsider this policy one night when I passed an older gentleman on Interstate 10. It was the middle of the night, and he was in the right hand lane pushing his car. He didn't have his hazard lights on, and he was standing on the driver's side pushing and steering through the open door. I found out the next day that he was ran over and killed about fifteen minutes after I passed him.
So what say you THR'ers? Am I overreacting, or is my caution justified?