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A woman and her two young children were stuck on the side of the road on an infrequently used highway. One of their tires had a blow out. The mother had never changed a tire, and to make matters worse she had no cell phone. The children were getting hot and she needed to do something quick. It didn't seem like any cars were coming for a while, and even if one did, would she be guaranteed they would stop and help?
She began to panic but knew that she needed to get hold of herself. She let the car run to keep her children cool but knew she would eventually have to conserve the gas. The only thing she could do was attempt to change the tire. She managed to get the spare tire and jack out, but couldn't figure out how to work it. She finally gave up on the jack and knew she could only wait.
She was in another state and didn't know the area well. She about burst into tears when all of a sudden she heard a roar in the distance and gave a sigh of relief, finally someone was coming to help. But as the roar grew louder the woman saw what was causing it and her heart dropped. It was a large group of bikers. She quickly got in her car, locked the doors and told her children everything would be alright. The bikers approached and encircled the car. There had to be at least thirty of them. She noticed that a few of them carried handguns. She said a silent prayer as the leader of the group approached the car. He had a rugged beard and looked agitated. He came up to the window and told her and her children to step out of the car. She didn't know what to do so she ignored him and kept praying. More of the bikers were getting off their bikes, and the leader left her window.
All of a sudden her car began to rock and the children began to cry. She tried to reassure them, but in truth, she was just as scared as they were. It sounded like they were stealing her tools that she had left on the ground. She didn't care, they could have them as long as they took them and left. One of the bikers said something and the whole gang laughed. The car shook more and then with a hard bump stopped moving. The leader came back to the window, and stuck what looked like a card under her windshield wiper. Whether they we're satisfied with scaring her, or thought it a lost cause, the bikers got on their bikes and with a load roar, road off. The children stopped crying, but the mom’s hands were still shaking.
She stepped out of the car and, to her amazement, saw that they had changed her tire! She took the card from under her wiper, it read: "You've just been helped by a big bad biker gang. Pay it forward."
My dad was one of those bikers. If you met him today you would never guess that he was in a "Big bad biker gang". From what I've heard they were indeed a rough crowd, but it just goes to show that anyone can do a nice deed for the good of others around them to make the world a better place.
Pay it forward.
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