Insult to injury or a renewal of faith in people?

It is so not my week....or is it. I've been seriously coughing for 3 weeks now. Of course I ignored it, like any good resident would do. Work and work and work....I never get sick. Only it got worse with wheezing, and coughing stuff up (yeah I know, seriously gross) and barely making it two blocks without getting winded. So I ponied up and finally when to a doctor. Took 3 visits until we got our diagnosis. I feel horrible for patients. This has been incredibly frustrating. And I wasn't super demanding at first, just letting those who are experts in gen medicine do their thing. But in the end it was pneumonia and there were steroid and antibiotics. I'm on the mend but still not quite myself. However day after that happened, as I'm driving to work, I feel some unsteadiness in my car and then realize my tire is flat. Has this happened to anyone? Didn't lose control of my car, but had to pull over on the side of a very busy road and sat there. SERIOUSLY. Could this week get any worse. So as I'm calling AAA and they are telling me I no longer have an account, a gentleman in a tow truck pulls over and knocks on my window. At first I'm thinking please just leave me alone. I'm sick, I'm nervous and I can't get anyone out to help me. ​

But this kind soul tells me we don't need AAA, they are useless clearly. And asks if I have a spare. Of course I do....at least I think I do....does anyone check this when they purchase a vehicle? Because I don't. So I pop the trunk and he looks in and of course I do. So he gets on his way to bringing out a jack and doing whatever is required to change a tire. I "learned" this in high school, but I'm in the school of thought that I have my expertise and others have theirs. And it is not my job to do what they do, just like I don't expect the lay person to operate on the brain so I do not know how to do many things. And of course he hears me coughing and insists I go sit in the car in the warmth. And of course I don't. (Read worst patient ever.) And at the end of it I am trying to figure out if I can use my debit card to pay him and he tells me to go get out of here and go do my thing. I'm speechless. How is it possible that people stop out of the kindness of their heart to help a stranger and expect nothing in return? I would have believed this 50-60 years ago but in 2018?

This man has restored my faith in people, particularly in this era where it seems no one cares about anyone else. And I'm looking to pay it forward. I haven't come across how yet but I'm on the lookout. And in the meantime I'm on the mend. Hoping to get back to the grind of working out, actually looking forward to it. Funny how when we have to take a break we are dying to get back into a routine but when we have the time we never want to do those things. But that's a whole other post and line of thought.

But...if you're feeling like maybe no one in the world cares for another, just know that's not true. And if you need a hand I'm always here, looking to pay forward and repair the world just the way this kind soul did. And I promise not to cough all over you.