Focus on Caring: Looking for trouble
My oh my how often we are on the road, driving to our intended destination, and we observe someone with car trouble. Each and every time I observe such a scene I always say a little prayer that the Universe will step in and send someone to be of assistance to this poor soul.
Thomas Weller of San Diego, California looks for trouble and provides assistance in the form of: fuel for those who thought driving on fumes would get them to their destination, a change of tire for that troublesome flat tire that started out as a slow leak but ended as a pancake, or a lift to a safer place so that the stranded motorist could get off the highway.
This isn’t a passing fancy of his, he’s been doing it for 50 years.
As a sixteen year old boy in 1964, he was “tom-catting” around against his mother’s wishes and driving in a blizzard when his vehicle slid on the icy pavement and ended up in a snowbank. Without assistance, he would certainly have frozen to death. One individual stopped and pulled his vehicle out of the snowbank and when Thomas asked what he owed him, the Good Samaritan said, “Nothing, just pass it on.” And that’s what he’s been doing. He patrols the San Diego Highways, to assist any and everyone who may be in need. He summarizes his efforts in this manner:
If I can not do great things, I’ll do small things in a great way.
He gives each recipient of his help a card, not unlike a business card, but the message is a gift in itself:
Assisting you has been my pleasure. I ask for no payment other than for you to pass on the favor to someone in distress that you encounter.
The 1964 Good Samaritan certainly started a Pay it Forward journey in the life of this highway savior. Isn’t that better than ignoring someone in distress?
I hope you’ll take a look at the first two selections in this Focus on Caring series:
Focus on Caring: Boundaries that constrain us; Focus on Caring: The Spineless Bystander Effect
Living: the ultimate team sport 
September 29, 2015 at 12:02 pm
[…] the previous Focus on Caring posts: Boundaries that constrain us; The spineless bystander effect; Looking for trouble; The ties that bind […]
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September 16, 2015 at 6:33 pm
You have done it again! Great piece…Thomas is a role model for all of us. Thanks for this one.
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September 16, 2015 at 6:44 pm
He is definitely a great example to all of us.
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September 17, 2015 at 8:08 am
Very glad you enjoyed it. He’s quite the guy, isn’t he? Have a great day, Diane.
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September 16, 2015 at 4:20 am
Wow! Thank you for introducing us to Thomas. Such a wonderful thing he does.
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