There we were, broken down in the middle of the street, so who stopped to help? | Opinion
Life just keeps confirming what I believe, which I guess is true for all of us.
On Wednesday morning, for instance, I had to go to the eye doctor in Leawood, and my husband drove me because it’s good to be able to see when you’re behind the wheel. On the way home, our car just stopped, pfft, in the middle of a very busy through street, just North of 85th and Holmes, which was a little scary.
He had to wait a long time for a tow. But in the 45 minutes before he put me into an Uber, who do you think was first to stop to see if he could help?
If you guessed an immigrant from Mali in West Africa, on his way to deliver a bunch of food that the place where he works was otherwise going to throw away but that he regularly drops off at homeless shelters, you win! (And if you further guessed that I profusely thanked him for coming here and making our country better, duh.)
We talked for a while, about him coming here, and about how I had always wanted to go there, where my Senegalese friend who died in September had lived for a while. When he said he was sorry about my buddy, I could tell that he really was, and he asked all about him, even though, reminder, this conversation was happening at the side of the road with his hazard lights on.
Also stopping to help were two Kansas City guys, who happened to be Black — one of whom went all the way home, got jumper cables, came back and tried to get our car to start. It didn’t, because that wasn’t what was wrong, but what a kindness. When my husband tried to thank him with some cash, he said, “Blessings are my payment.”
Nice guy #3 also offered to go get jumper cables, but by then we knew that wouldn’t help.
So yes, there are still so many good people in this world. And guardian angels, too. Because if we had broken down a minute earlier, it would have been on I-435, and oh, that would not have been optimal. As it was, one problem was that with those drops in my eyes, I couldn’t even see well enough to help by calling Geico.
Why am I calling out the demographics of those who helped us, you ask? Because the world keeps telling us to beware of the very people who stopped and put themselves out for us.
It makes me especially sad that I have to worry about saying something too identifying about the gentleman from Mali. Of course I didn’t ask about his status in this country.
And my honest question is this: Do people who think newcomers to America should be treated so roughly not have these experiences?
If you are reading this, folks who came to our aid, please know that you turned what could have been a disaster into a reaffirmation of a lot of good things. And though I know I said it before, thank you truly.
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 5:08 AM.
