This week's Pep Talk: "Angels Among Us"

It was last weekend, Labor Day 2010 and I’m blessed to be in the mountains with darling girlfriend and my two precious children. I’m just observing them together and feeling very lucky.

For whatever reason my mind wanders to an earlier time, back to last year’s holiday season when driving across the country with Kyle and Rachel. The journey started in New York City where “K-Man” had attended NYU. He was moving to Los Angeles to continue his studies and work full-time in the entertainment industry. His younger sister and I had flown into New York, rented a big SUV, packed up Kyle’s belongings and started our trek west.

Through three time zones and nine states we drove. We’re only 100 miles from Denver, and a brief respite from our travels, when, what had been a flawless trip hit an unexpected bump in the road. We ran out of gas!

“Dad!” the kids wondered, “How in the world could you run out of gas?” I didn’t have a good answer. “The fuel gauge said we had about 30 miles left in the tank” was my lousy excuse. I surveyed the situation: the waning daylight of late afternoon; 10 miles from the closest service station. There was an interstate exit about a quarter mile down the road. “I’m gonna run up to that exit and see if I can find somebody to help.”

I’m jogging along the shoulder of the interstate. Big trucks are whooshing by when something inside says, “stick your thumb out for help.” Right then a man driving a pickup truck, towing a trailer loaded with freshly cut hay, pulls over. He rolled down the window in a friendly way. I explain my predicament to Wayne. He was quite amused.

“How can you run out of gas here?” the part-time farmer wonders. He then noted his brother-in-law owns an auto repair shop at the nearby exit. A minute later we’re there. He jumps out, disappears for maybe two minutes before reappearing carrying a three-gallon can of fuel.

Less than ten minutes later, my kids are startled to see their old man’s quick return. Wayne, who happens to also be a Colorado Department of Transportation employee, pours the petrol into our tank. We’re back on the road and heading for home.

Whenever giving a Pep Talk to a group, I try and encourage others to never growing wearing of doing good things for others. It’s that “one good deed leads to another” philosophy. What are the odds of, within seconds of running out of gas, someone stopped, had a nearby source of fuel and possessed the willingness to help?

Wayne, I never caught his last name, is an angel among us. We can be that type of person too. Look around, be aware and never miss any opportunity to help another because when you least expect it – or deserve it in my case - that goodwill will bounce back in ways you would never imagine possible.