Day 5

Random acts of kindness

I was merrily driving along the coastal road.

It was my last day in college, so I had in my back seat my tri-color bookshelf overflowed with books, my mom’s comforter, a luggage full of clothes and four years worth of textbooks and notes.

I was feeling upbeat (coastal drive always energize me), and I had my radio to full volume when a van overtook my car and a guy in the passenger seat was frantically pointing at something on my car.

“Oh shit”, I muttered, and immediately slowed down my car. I pulled over to the roadside and found out I had my very first case of flat tyre.

“Oh shit shit”, I was actually more annoyed with the inconvenience than worried about the quiet rural road and the fact that I was driving alone.

I made a few calls. My home is three hours away so it was difficult for any of my brothers to come. Those were not the days of smartphone, so the thought of Googling “how to fix a flat tyre” didn’t crossed my mind.

It was when I was fiddling with my phone an old red Proton Saga pulled over behind my car. One young man came out and shyly approached me.

“Kenapa, kak? (What happened, sister?)”

I helplessly pointed out to my flat tyre. He looked over to his friends and nodded his head.

What happened then was the most surreal fifteen minutes of my life.

They worked quietly and efficiently. The young man who first approached me asked me to pop open the trunk. One of them immediately set about to put my bags on the ground, while the other took out the orange safety cone and placed it on the other side of the road where cars were approaching.

The biggest of them were tasked with taking the wheel off, and the others looked on, waiting with the spare tyre they had removed from my trunk.

The entire process took less than fifteen minutes, and when it was done they quickly put all the stuffs back to where they were like when I was still talking on the phone before.

One of them smiled at me as he closed the trunk and gestured that it should be safe for me to drive now, while his friends waited on at a distance. I was still flabbergasted by the whole experience that I stammered an incoherent thanks and quickly asked if they would like me to buy them some soda (really Ati! I later laughed at my feeble attempt of gratitude).

But they politely declined and drove off.

That memory of young men often crossed my mind every time I had a case of flat tyre till today, and I often think how I would have better expressed my gratitude to them. I’m grateful not only for their willingness to help, but also for how polite and respectful they were that I didn’t feel for a second threatened or wary of their intentions.

Whatever their parents taught them, they were taught right.

[Photo credit: Sarah Banduklawa]