I knew it was gonna be a rockin' story when you said the guy's name was Garth.

I'm so damn glad I read this far down the page.

This is so awesome I'm considering changing my username.

This shit needs to be at the top, or in a submission of it's own somewhere. Thank you for sharing. Garth fucking rules.

That made me cry.

Wow, that could almost be made into some kind of movie. You're a great story teller, btw. Now I'll wonder what ever happened to him, too!

I'm really glad you typed all that, and I'm even more glad I read it. Awesome story, dude. This bowl's for you. [4]

This was really a great story, I just have one question. How did Garth get to that plot of land to begin with?

You, and your friends. You guys are fucking awesome. If you come to London ever, my spare bedroom is yours.

Such a crazy cool story, when i hear things like this i wish there was some way i could get a hold of this guy and offer him some legit assistance like a place to crash and help finding work.

Great story, man. Just out of curiosity, did you take him to the Poverello House? I've picked up hitchhikers quite a few times in my travels in Montana, and have had a couple want to be dropped there.

Amazing story my friend.

It shows that no matter where you are, who you are, or what you have become, kindness continues to shine a long way. Thank you.

Why do we have war still?

By Far one of the best stories I've read on here. You and your friends are true good people.

That was a good story. Garth was lucky to meet you, you're good people

mahousive upboat for the wanderer Garth

Thanks for posting that, put a smile on my face first thing in the morning!

You my man are why I still have faith in humanity.

You could totally turn this into a heart felt indy movie...

Party on, Garth

great story bro...is it just me, or some of these reddit stories will make for great short movies

wherever Garth is right now, I hope he is at peace...

Great story and everything, but one part stood out: "we took him to a chinese buffet were he ate down 4 fat plates"

Don't EVER feed anyone this much if they haven't eaten in days, mainly because of this. You can unintentionally kill someone because of this.

I'm not sure if 4 plates of Chinese Buffet after 6 days of fasting was such a great idea.

All joking aside, there are few things in life more beautiful than the kindness of strangers. I've had to rely on in many times before so thank you stranger.

Garth seems like a real hero.

I have a strange hitchhiking story. I was 16 and worked at an apartment complex as a maintenance man. I didn't have any real skills so I really was more of a janitor than anything. I drove a 4 door toyota hand me down from my family and one day on the way home from work, I turn to get on the highway ramp and I see an older woman with a suitcase. I pull over and she happens to be going to the exit past the one I was headed too. I let her in and she puts her suitcase in the back seat.

She began to talk and she seems a little on the crazy side. She kept telling me that she was starving, and I told her I would buy her some food. She didn't seem homeless, and she stated she was on the way home from work. She also told me she was 25, but no joke she looked like she was 35-40.

I get off at her exit, and we stop at a sonic. I bought and she was really thankful. She did try to pay for it and did pull out a small amount of cash. After we ate, she told me where she lived, it was a bigger trailer park pretty close to the highway. I pulled up to her house and she said I could come in and she would smoke me out. So I was like okay...

As I was walking up to her trailer my heart was racing. We walk in and the place was pretty messy. Sink filled with dishes, the trailer reeked of weed, and clothes were all over the floor. She turned the tv on and packed up her piece, she took a hit and handed it to me. I chilled and we began to talk for a little bit more. I told her I better get home, and she said thanks for the ride, blah blah. Well, as I was putting my jacket on, she grabbed my dick and straight up asked me if I wanted a bj?

Let me add to the story, at this point in my life I have never had anything like this. I have only kissed girls. So I accepted and to this date it was the best bj I've ever had. After wards, I zipped up, we exchanged phone numbers, and I left. I remember getting home and dinner was on the table for me, and as I ate it my heart was just racing and I was thinking what the hell just happened?

To add to this story, over the next few years I would continue to driver her home about 4-5 times a month. I eventually lost my virginity to her. I lost touch with her when I went to college. Strange I know...

Whats the deal with Hitchhikers and Chinese Food?

It's people like you who give me faith (back) in humanity.

awesome story!

Garth....what a story... Omg

You should have put a towel in his backpack. After all a towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

Fucking awesome!

That put a big smile on my face, what a cool guy.

Thanks for this story. :')

I want you to be in my wolfpack.

Upvote, upvote, upvote. This story is very heart warming! You guys are true Americans. People helping people, thats what its all about. Thank you very much for being so awesome to someone less fortunate than the rest of us.

Someone start writing the screenplay.

wait....how did he get on the dude's land to meet him in the first place?

It's stories like these that makes me forgot all the negative things in the world. Nice to know there are still some super nice and helpful people out there!

... and that's how Garth Brooke became a country star!

God bless you man for your kindness! You have spun a cycle of goodness!

Please tell me the chinese food buffet you took him to was HuHot. I know it's Mongolian and a franchise, but it really is the best buffet in Missoula.

what's this salty discharge from my eyes???

http://www.helium.com/items/1991588-poetry-homeless its him! ha

Why are people down voting this?

Damn! Now that's a story!

badass

Epic tale sir, thank you.

fucking onions in my cube.

That was one hell of a story, and thank you. You are truly good people!

Whoa. That's... amazing. If you ever come by CT, my house is your house.

this story is amazing, i want to meet garth

[deleted]

That made me cry... the part when you opened up his pack and went through it, what was up with that? Just because you consider yourself and your deeds to be "good", you get to do whatever else you want?

And if your story was fiction, it was a very poor literary device as well, so take that.

Real life karma!!!

Today, you. Tomorrow, me.

What goes around really does eventually come around. Great story, it goes to show we all really are connected in one way or another.

i would quit drinking from gas cans too

Yes.

I hope you're not lying.

Kick ass story!

I read this and enjoyed it.

Today you... tomorrow me.

I've heard it called DUI and DWI, but never DU double I.

....Andy?

I had a roomate in college named Andy, had a Ford Ranger, dash board didn't work, he had to guess when to fill it up and had a very similar story.

Shapple! Pick me up!

I did...great story

you should make this story longer and add a third part in which the vw guy picks you up again a year later and is raging drunk.

Haha cool reminds me of when I was a hitchhiker. Some dude raped me with his dick and balls and cut my head off

Disregard women, acquire gardening supplies.

Everything about this situation is hilarious. That poor girl!

I think this is the most amusing story in this thread. Mulch is pretty fantastic, but what a jerk. At least be subtle when you steal gardening products...

Sounds like something from Trailer Park Boys...

LOL! Some cousin...

I hope you got a doughnut out of the deal.

Oh shit they have mulch?! I can get another cousin!

girl standing there with her jaw hanging open, and holding a box of donuts.

anyone else think of Trigun?

Ok, there's no hitchhiking in this story but it has a drive off theft and hilarity.

My brother and I are walking into a mall in Cincinnati, just north of the Kentucky border. It's the week after thanksgiving which is important because a bunch of back woods Appalachian types make their annual pilgrimage from the hills into the "big city" to go Christmas shopping. You see people that are obviously living a life that you would never imagine could still exist today.

We're walking towards the main doors of JC Penney and there's a completely beat ass 30 year old muscle car of some sort idling at the curb. When we're about 10 feet from the car a guy comes busting out of the doors with an entire display rack of jeans, followed by a bunch of employees giving chase. He throws the rack into the open door of the car and jumps in head first but he only gets about half his body inside leaving his legs hanging out. The woman driving starts laying rubber with gusto making a wide counterclockwise circle through the lot (i.e. with the passenger side to the outside of the turn). The guy is hanging on for dear life as the G force tries to rip him from the car. Pairs of jeans are tumbling out and littering the parking lot. He ends up with almost his entire body outside of the car and sticking straight out, suspended by centrifugal force. They get to the other side of the parking lot and the car slams on the brakes. The dude goes tumbling.

At this point we're just cracking up right in front of half a dozen bewildered employees. But it gets even funnier. The guy gets up shambles back into to the car picking up a couple pairs of jeans as he goes. The car again starts peeling tire, swerves a bit then slows down. The driver's door opens and we see the guy shove the woman driving out the door who now has her turn tumbling across the pavement (covered in snow so it wasn't that bad). The guy floors it, drives over a fairly substantial curb that sends the car bouncing around violently, drives through a wimpy fence and onto the highway. The woman gets up and runs through the now perforated fence and disappears.

My brother and I look at each other, make some remark about Kentucky then walk past the employees into the store. When we left an hour or so later there were several cop cars parked out front with the woman who was driving sitting in the back of one.

This story terrifies me.

Thanks for sharing this :)

Donuts are awesome.

I'm assuming this happened in the States. Where exactly? I just imagine ho-bunk town in middle America.

"hoy por ti, mañana por mi"

Thank u , thank u, so much for writing this, Im mexican (born and raised) and it hurts so bad how my people is viewed outside at times, by the narco war, inmigration and many problems, I think americans are afraid of us. But we mexicans in general are fucking cool people, who view americans "gringos" (wich is not a racist term btw) as neighbors and friends.

I remember one time me and my mexican friends defending americans that where being beaten up by some fucking cholos from east l.a or some stupidity like that. This guy ask Godoy, a friend, "why did you defend us? where fucking gringos."

He said, "because we are the real face of Mexico, not those fuckers."

THank u so much, PM where you live, I can send you some tamales,mexican recipes and anything you like from my country.

You have made a wonderful contribution to the thread. Thank you for sharing your story sir.

[deleted]

I never have a reason to tell this story but I think it fits here. I was traveling in Mexico, one of my first times outside the U.S., and at the time I spoke essentially no Spanish. I scratched my cornea, which for the lucky among you who don't know is indescribably painful. After literally 72 hours with no sleep due to the pain, I finally deliriously admit to myself I'm going to have to see a doctor, and thus cut my super low budget trip short. I walk into a sunglasses shop, best thing I could think of in my state, and with the help of a phrasebook, I clumsily convey that something is wrong with my eye. The sunglasses guy puts me on the phone with a friend who's an eye doctor and who speaks some English. The doctor gives me detailed directions on how to get to his office on the subway from where I am, and tells me he can see me. When I get there, I realize he's not normally open on Sunday, and in fact he has interrupted family Sunday dinner to see me in his office which adjoins his house. From the table next door where everyone else is still eating his very young daughter peeks her head in a few times, and he tells me she's learning a little English and wants to eavesdrop, but she ends up being too shy to converse. He gets me completely patched up (literally; turns out an eyepatch is step one in stopping the pain), and gives me a prescription for some drops. I ask him "What do I owe you", sort of already bracing for what I assume will be the "off-hours" price and wondering if I'll have bus fare back to the States. He says "Some day, someone in your country will be in a jam, maybe they won't speak the language too well, and they'll need some help. That's what you owe me." It's been years and I still can't think of that story without tearing up a little. It immediately pops into my mind whenever I'm faced with the question of whether to make a little extra time for somebody in a jam.

This sort of reminded me of something that happened to me. A few years ago, I helped a friend move out of his 2nd floor apartment.. with a VERY narrow 90 degree turn out the door and down the stairs. Extremely hard to move anything in or out. It was a good 105 degrees that day in Dallas.. his electricity was shut off, so we had no A/C. His cups were already packed so we had no water. We pushed on.. kept moving boxes/furniture. We had to, he needed to be out that day. It was one of the most miserable days I can ever remember. Anyway, about 3/4 done and around the corner comes a Mexican man, who had to be in his 60s or so, pushing a little ice cream cart around the complex and sees us resting.. exhausted beyond words. The man walked up to us, didn't speak a word of English, and handed us both an ice cold bottle of water from his cart, smiled, and walked off.

I will NEVER forget that.

Hoy por tí, mañana por mí.

As a mexican I can say that we are generally nice people, and most times will go out of our way to help a stranger in need. Specially the less fortunate.
When I was in high school, I did some social work in a really poor community. Poor as in houses made out of cardboard.
It was moving and just mindblowing that someone in that situation would invite you in as a guest and be so excited about cooking something for you. Even when they were well aware that you might end up eating the entire family's food for the rest of the day.

I think the willingness to give without expecting anything in return is all part of the mexican mindset of "there's always someone less fortunate than me." That's good karma right there.

Reminds me of a time I stopped for someone who needed help. I was pulling off the freeway to get gas and a woman holding a baby standing outside a minivan on the offramp reached out with one arm and a look of absolute need as I drove by. I stopped, backed up, and asked if she needed help. Her van had broken down. She had a baby and 5 older girls in the car, on their way to a birthday party. She had been on the side of the road for 2 hours and no one would stop. Because of the age of the girls (I'd say 6ish) and the baby, she couldn't walk to the gas station 1/2 a mile away for help without chancing one of the kids running off and getting hurt. I handed her my cell phone, held her baby, and talked to the older girls while she made a few phone calls, then stayed with her while waiting for her help to arrive. I was so mad when I heard that no one would stop to help her. Her husband finally arrived, looking worried, and I went on my way.

I know this will be at the bottom, that's just how life goes. I have somewhat similar story but different ending.

Me and my dad always pick up hitchhikers, always have and always will. We decided we where going to drive down to El Paso (from Salt Lake City) to see Tom Waits live, so obviously in the spirit of things... we where going to grab everybody we could.

On the way we saw 2x young punk kids outside of Phoenix, so we grab them, turns out they're on their way to stand outside the concert hall that Tom Waits was playing at. This made us feel awesome.

The 2nd set of people where 2x people who lived in the boondocks of nowhere. I believe they where 90+ and all they where doing was getting groceries, one of them was in world war 2, and they seemed happy as shit just baking in the sun waiting for a ride. This made us feel awesome.

The 3rd was a Hispanic dude in a broken down vehicle with 2 other Mexican dudes. He made the motions and implied it just ran out of gas. We're in the boondocks still, nothing around for fucking miles. We take him all the way to the gas station and buy him a thing and a gallon of gas and as soon as my dad hands it over he goes through his broken English and says "Thanks yous" and what not, then the mother fucker just starts walking back towards his car like a champ. I'd say how far it was but I'm not good with distance, and there's no way I would walk the distance in the hot sun. So we grab him and shuffle his ass back to the car and give him a ride back to his car. (I think it was about a 15 minute drive on freeway.) When we finally drop him off... and I'll never not hear this in my head when I think about it... he said in the best English that he knew "I... I... thank you... I... I love you."

Best road trip of my life.

Edit: LOL, I'm at work and I started crying when I had to retype this.

P.S. My Dad is awesome, I never learned how to work with my hands or anything, but he taught me how to be an awesome person.

Dammit, I teared up.

(none of that onions crap.)

Six years ago, my wife and I were biking through Oregon and Idaho. We'd just arrived outside of Boise and I had just gotten my seventh flat tire of the day (we later discovered that the tape on the rim had worn out and a spoke was puncturing the tire). We hadn't made it half a mile since the gas station where I'd just finished patching my sixth flat tire. My wife was thoroughly fed up and wanted to get to the hotel room my mom had rented for us in Boise as a present. She decides to try hitch hiking and starts walking her bike towards me. Given that we've got two heavily loaded bikes, and that we're both obviously filthy from biking through Eastern Oregon, our hitchhiking prospects were slim. A van pulled up and a family of latinos loaded our bikes in the back and drove us to our hotel. They refused money. It was awesome.

Thank you for writing this.

This might be my favourite post that I've ever read on this site. I teared up when I got to the "Today you... tomorrow me."

Thanks for sharing that, that was actually a very heart warming story.

I don't know about the rest, but this was pretty meaningful to me dude.

I tilt my hat in your honour, you seem to have a nice take on life.

Ten years ago, I backpacked in Central America for three months and everywhere I went, locals would offer me a ride if they saw me walking along the side of the road. It was very normal for them, as so many people don't have cars. It made me nervous at the beginning because I'd be an easy target for robbery and sometimes the ride was a pickup truck with a few guys in back with machetes. But once I realized that they needed the machetes just to do their jobs, it became no big deal. Everyone was super nice.

That is, until I got to about 30 miles south of Cancun, where more of the cars were U.S.ians tooling around in rented jeeps, etc. On that particular day, when I was trying to get to the airport to meet somebody flying in to meet me, nobody would stop, despite my putting my thumb out. I even walked up to a gringo at a restaurant and asked him point blank if he would mind just dropping me a few miles up the road. He just shook his head and rushed away, looked a little scared even. I realize that these people were bringing their context and reality into a new and unfamiliar context/reality (and I looked pretty scruffy by then), but it really made me realize what a nation of pussies we've become -- afraid to help a person with who's fairly obviously in a pinch -- because of the .5% chance I've got an ulterior motive.

TL;DR: Pick up people who obviously need help. Anybody encumbered by a huge backpack is the one taking the risk.

"Today you.... tomorrow me."

This needs to be spread like a virus.

Hm. It's such a stupid thought I have all the time when I go to Mexico (I go once or twice a year) but I can't help having it, which is basically: Mexicans on the whole are about 50 times nicer than Americans.

I'll be in Mexico, everyone kind, mellow, helping me out, whatever, smiling, not freaking out about a bus breaking down and then I'll get on the plane and every American looks like they have been constipated for about 12 days, complaining about every fucking thing then running off to their yoga class because their head is about to explode from the stress. You'll see Mexicans selling peanuts who have to walk 5 miles from their job and they don't complain but you'll get on the plane and some guy will be going on and on about how his IT people won't let him get an Android.

There's something wrong with people here. On the whole, we are vastly more miserable than people who are a lot poorer than us. And I really wonder if it isn't because we are so self-centered? We don't even notice other people most of the time, except when they annoy us. And I do not exempt myself.

this is one of the best things ive ever read. I was at lake mead once, and my friends car battery dies, she left the lights on, so she gets it started ( a miracle start) and then after about 30 seconds turns it off again. i almost slapped her.

anyways, this mexican family shows up to fish at like 9 at night. we have no jumpers etc. he fiddles around for a while, goes to the back of his truck and pulls out a huge fucking extension cord. the kind that arent cheap. and just cuts it like its nothing. then he rigs up the batteries and off we go.

i was like omfg, do you know that guy just sacced like 50 bucks to get your car started? the bitch didnt even care. :C

...big signs that said NEED A JACK and offered money.

I think you got lucky.

I was in a similar situation. It was about 2 am and a deer jumped in front of me. I avoided it, but blew out both passenger side tires. I could replace one with a donut, but still was out a tire. I stayed at the side of the road for close to 2 hours before someone finally stopped to help. I explained the situation and he just gave me his spare tire.

He hung around till I had gotten it on the car. I had no cash to offer him. He told me not worry about it, but tires aren't exactly cheap. We talked for a little while when I got my first good glimpse of his face in the headlights of a passing car. His eyes were redder than the devil's dick. I joked "You must either be really high or really tired." He responds "Both, actually."

We shared a bowl and went our separate ways.

Second this story! My sophomore year of college, I was driving a ford taurus with electrical problems. I was paying my way through school, and I hadn't saved up the money to replace it yet. The electrical problems basically meant that sometimes it started, and sometimes it needed a jump. Every fucking time that summer the only people there to give me a jump were mexican or south american. In return, I try to pick up hitchhikers or stop for people with car troubles. :) Today you... tomorrow me :)

Beautiful. Poor people in general will offer more help because they probably needed it in the past for any reason and maybe no one helped them. So they know how it feels to be ignored.

Great. Now I am crying on a plane over Lake Michigan.

I got stuck in the snow one time pulling over to play around in it with my girlfriend, (neither of us have really experienced snow). After a while a van of mexicans shows up. Like 6 or 7 hop out with shovels and pieces of lumber, we make a little corduroy road for my car and I'm out! Before I can get to my wallet to give them some cash they were gone. I was boned without them, stuck in the mountains with no service.....

It has become apparent to me over the past 4-5 years that the people most likely to help those in need are the less fortunate.

As an hispanic, living right in the border and with Mexican friends and parents I can testify to that. We are always eager to help. My Dad is the kind of guy that if he sees you at 4 AM in the middle of nowhere he will stop and help and of course, he educated us this way. Nowadays it's a bit harder to find the Mexican hospitality and friendship because violence is awful in the Mexican side but no matter what, you will always be helped.

I'm from mexico and this is common practice. I was always taught to help those in distress knowing that one day that might be you. I still have family there, go back at least once a year and we have more than once stopped to help change a tire (no jack), give a jump (his alternator went out so we stated the car with our battery, took the battery out and we drive behind him for about 80 kilometers to make sure he made it to his home town) and give a ride for gas. When I've done it in the US peopled looked at me weird, even scared at times. It definitely made me a more prepared driver

I was on the camping trip from hell. We drove out to campground with my camper in tow and the guy I was with insisted we couldn't let the truck idle while we setup. By the time we were done the battery was dead because we needed the headlights to setup the camper.

Our other friend who was suppose to be there already was nowhere to be found. Didn't answer his cell and there was no sign of him at his tent. We asked around the campground and nobody had jumper cables. We had a few beers and went to bed.

The next morning our friends truck was there and he almost made it to his tent. We woke him up and headed to town for jumper cables. On the way e ran out of gas on a country road. We coasted into an old farm. It looked like where cars went to die, there were about 20 beat-to-shit old cars there. My friends and I were kinda freaked out.

3 mexicans came out of nowhere. We looked at each other uneasy. We told them that we ran out of gas. Quickly 1 ran to get a gas can, then apologized that they didn't have any!

We loaded into their van and they took us to a gas station. We filled the can up and then tried to fill their van up, but they refused. So we headed back to the truck and just before we got back to the farm my one friend offered them $20. They refused and said "Today you...Tomorrow me".

I was 17 at the time, just got my license and that really stuck with me. I'm not going to say that I always stop, but I try to whenever possible.

as much as this is heart warming, it is also quite sad. I am an immigrant to this country, and back home, people will make a line of cars to help out strangers. it seems here in this stressed out world of capitalism, where money is money and thats all that matters to some. ah ignorance spreads like a virus.

when I broke down on the side of the road, during night, it was a vehicle full of mexicans that got out and tried to help as well. to top it off, they were all dressed very formally. didn't speak a lick of english, but showed me tools and fluids in the back of their truck and motioned for me to help myself.

little did i know nothing was going to fix a blown headgasket and a rod through the block :/

Well I ran out of fuel on my motorcycle when I was new on it. All my help was to far away to get to me anytime soon. Guy in a truck comes to my aid, even buys the gas can for me for the fuel.

Since then, I have helped 3 people on downed motorcycles. I know my way around a car and bike. One them was shocked when I pulled out a pair of wire cutters, recut his positive battery lines, and his bike was good to go.

[deleted]

Rhoner, I know exactly how you feel. This isn't about picking up a hitchhiker, but rather about being picked up by someone I'm pretty sure was a damn angel.

My older sister and I took a cross country drive years ago (before cell phones were common) to go to school on the west coast. We packed up her shitty old minivan with just about everything we owned and hit the road. We were in Nevada, a few miles out from a town called Primm, in the middle of the desert. I knew we were low on gas, but we could see Prmim and thought we were going to be fine. The car died.

Now it looked like the town was only about a mile or two out, but the desert can fuck with how far away things appear to be. We needed to go into town to get a can of gas, but at the same time we didn't feel great about leaving a van full of all our stuff on the side of the road. My sister had her bike in the car, and had been riding semi-regularly and thought she could make it easy. I told I wasn't a fan of her going off alone, but she insisted that she would rather do that than sit alone in the car waiting for me. She assured me she could do 3-4 miles round-trip easy. I told her she had 40 mins, then I was going to follow after her.

So she takes off. It was probably in the upper 90's that day, and super dry. She had a bottle of water that was maybe half full. I'm sitting in the car, just watching the clock, and man did time feel slow. It hits 40 mins, then 45, and I can't even see her on the horizon. I'm getting really worried, so I lock up the van, and started walking to town.

It is seriously hot, and as I'm walking I'm realizing we drastically underestimated the distance to Primm. I've been walking over a mile and the town looks like it hasn't gotten a step closer. I still can't see my sister up ahead, and I'm really scared at this point. Now mind you this isn't some tiny road I'm walking down, but highway 15. There are a ton of cars driving past. I haven't stuck my thumb out yet, but am starting to realize I might have to. Then, without any prompting, a beat up old blue ford pulls off the highway in front of me. A Mexican guy who speaks very broken english leans out and asks if I need help. I tell him we ran out of gas and that I was worried about my sister, he offers to give me a ride into town. I jump in the car.

His dashboard is covered with little angel figurines, crosses, etc, and there is a bible sitting there as well. We drive into Primm, which turns out to be more like 6-7 miles one way, watching out for my sister the whole time. No sign of her. He takes me to the first gas station, nothing. Then we cross the highway, which in Primm is a pain in the ass, and check the gas station on the other side. Still nothing. I'm seriously freaking out by this point, not sure what to do. The guy recommends we drive back to the car, in case we somehow missed her.

About a quarter of the way back to the car I can see my sister, still on her bike, ahead of us. She is wobbling on the bike, holding the gas can in one hand, clearly exhausted, and looks like she is about to go down. We pull up in front of her, and when she sees me get out of the car she just immediately started crying. She told me that she knew she wasn't going to make it back, was scared to death, and though she probably didn't realize it she was going into early stages of heat stroke and dehydration. It was making her irrational, normally she would have had the sense to just stop and flag someone down, but as I talked to her and tried to calm her down it was clear she wasn't thinking straight. Tons of cars had driven right past her, a few with guys in them had even honked and made cat calls at her, though to look at her it was obvious she wasn't biking through 90 degree weather in the desert for fun.

The old Mexican drove us all the way back to our car. Then he popped our hood, checked our oil, said we were way low, and produced a quart from his trunk. We tried to give him money, he absolutely refused even though the whole thing had taken almost an hour for him. Then he drove off with a wave, like it was nothing, like saving a couple of idiot city folk was his normal Wednesday routine. I don't even remember his name, but he will always be a super hero in my mind.

tl;dr: ran out of gas in desert, stranger picked me up and helped me find my sister who had gone for gas, saved our asses

Just came out of "Reddit hibernation" to respond to your comment.

I had a similar thing when I was going to work one early Saturday morning and shitty luck my fuel pump goes out and my car dies. I was in the middle lane at 6 in the morning of a pretty bad neighborhood, but there was lots of traffic so I was not really worried. A lot of cars passed by, and I could see them looking my way, but not one stopped. All of a sudden a SUV pulls up behind me and when I went out to meet them half way to see who it is, it was a man of Latino origin, stopping at six in the morning, with a car full of kids and his pregnant wife at the front to see if everything was okay and if I needed help. I explained that I was waiting for my dad and thanked him for stopping. That made my day, that someone took the time out of their life to help a stranger, something I was not expecting.

tl;dr - Immigrants fuckin rule, they make the world keep spinning with their cheap hard work, as well as the genuine kindness they bring from their homeland.

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This thread is so long that I doubt this will ever get read but it reminded me of something that happened to me a few years back...

I used to be in a band that would take frequent road trips to play throughout the country. We were unsigned and did everything on our dime. We were from Rhode Island and had a few shows out in Colorado and SLC this one particular weekend. After the final show in SLC, we took off to head back to RI that night. It had started snowing but we had to get back for work in a couple days so we were forced to drive.

Several hours later... We were driving up and down through the hills of Wyoming in a snow storm trying to deal with 70 mph wind gusts. The roads were sheets of ice at that point and the wind on our trailer was causing the van to fish tail. Eventually we ended up spinning out into the middle of the highway. We were all ok but needed some repairs.

Fast-forwarding... My drummer and I ended up on a Greyhound bus to get back home in time for work (my guitarist and bass player taught lessons so they were able to stay behind to get the repairs). We had spent most of our money on the bus tickets and it was a two and a half day ride to get back home. We were living off the 1$ zebra cakes you buy in gas stations. The bus was packed and at one point we ended up in the back among a group of Mexicans. They were all men and a bit older than us. They spoke very little English. At one point, we stopped at another gas station that sold fried chicken. Every single one of the Mexicans got back on the bus with it... The smell was driving me mad. It must have been obvious to the one sitting next to me, he ended up sharing half of his meal with me. I tried to tell him no but he insisted. That fried chicken changed my life... I looked a few rows behind me and found my drummer had gotten the same deal. I spoke to my new friend to get his story. It turns out he was on his way to Iowa for work. They would all go up there every year to do farm work for a few months and send money back to their families. I was on my way back to my part-time call center job I took for granted... We got to Iowa and they all hopped off, never saw them again.

The rest of the trip home was pretty awful but I will leave that for another post.

Whenever I hear someone complaining about immigrants in our country, I think back to those guys on the bus. Whenever I eat fried chicken, I think back to those guys on the bus. They can stay as far as I am concerned...

tl;dr: Some awesome Mexican guys gave me and my friend fried chicken on a bus. It was awesome...

About 15 years ago, when I was a new driver and had just moved to New Mexico, I drove my little shitty car a bit off the road, so that one of the rear tires wound up in the air. Just got nervous and took a turn wrong. I was standing by my car, trying to figure out what to do, when a middle aged white man pulled over and jumped out, ran to me and yelled, "Get out of the road, that's dangerous!" (It was a sharp curve.) While he pondered my situation, a pickup truck stopped and six Mexican men, probably on their way to a construction job, jumped out of the back. Without a word, they lifted my car back on the road and hopped back onto the flatbed of the truck, and the driver moved on.

I'll never forget this. I took out a classified ad to thank them, and the original helper, and I'm sure they never saw it, but I hope other folks did and it made at least a small impression.

"I'm learning one thing good...If you're in trouble or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones."

The Grapes of Wrath

It was around Christmas a couple of years ago. My cousin and I stop at a gas station and see one of the clerks (a lady) outside on the phone crying. I ask her what's up and she says that her husband didn't come to pick her up and was still at home and was drunk. So we decide to take her home 50 miles away from where we were supposed to be. We drop her at a trailer park; she thanks us and tries to give us 2 bucks -- doesn't even cover the gas but I appreciate the gesture and give it back to her. And then all hell broke lose. The husband comes out high as a kite with a gun. He's swearing and calling us mexicans and how it's not our country (I'm a foreigner -- not from Mexico though). I'm scared, my cousin is almost in tears. His wife is scared. We got into the car and left.

But would I help out someone else again? Sure, any day.

"Today you.... tomorrow me."

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Dammit. Wasn't planning on crying tonight.

Jack Kerouac would be proud.

I too have had a similar experience (but on a smaller emotional scale). My wife and I had just moved to a very Mexican neighborhood in SoCal. We had a flat on the side of a busy freeway near sundown. We were frantically trying to change the tire before it got too dark with cars speeding past us. A very nice Mexican man speaking broken English pulls behind us shining his headlights for more light and helps us change the tire. He refuses the twenty I tried to give him. Any trepidation I had about moving to a low-income Mexican neighborhood was tempered right then and there.

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This story just goes on to remind me that Empathy is what is educated out of us in North America. I mean we are taught that we're the best. We are taught that kindness is a weakness. That we should be in it for ourselves. To compete. To outplay, outlive, outeat, out shit everyone in sight.

Maybe it's not the world that's fucked up. But us who are fucked up. Maybe if we were taught empathy and it was encouraged we wouldn't be in wars all over the fucking place.

This story really inspired me, just today I gave a homeless guy a ride to the Heart House homeless shelter. When he first walked up to me, at the gas station, I was a little scared and apprehensive, but then the first thought in my head was "Today you.... tomorrow me.", and then I thought what kind of eagle scout would I be if I didn't give him a ride. Especially since i knew where the place was, i had volunteered there in high school with my scout troop, and it would only take at most one minute of my time to save this guy a 5 mile up hill walk in the snow. So I told him to get in the truck and I would give him a ride once I finished gassing up.

Once i get into the truck he introduces himself, and it turns out that both of us are named Darin. He looks to be about 50 years old. He starts telling me about how most people won't go out of their way to help him, and that he thought it was wonderful and surprising that i did. Next we start sharing our philosophies about life. He tells me that he has lived a long bad life of screwing people over and always getting in trouble, but that one day he had an epiphany, much like on his favorite show My Name is Earl, that he needed to treat everyone better. So he made a vow to himself that he would do just that, and that he would find a way to hitch hike down to Galveston Texas so he could try to help take care of his estranged son. By far the best thing he said was his philosophy which in his words was, " We all live in this world together so we have got to help each other out, otherwise if we all decide to shit on each other soon enough we will all be living in a huge pile of shit."

Awesome story, that's damn inspirational. The whole 'Pay it forward' mentality comes to mind and I think it is something people should be taught when they are very little. Probably would, well, no. Obviously would make the world a better place.

I gave this story my up vote, but sounds like you've got way more real karma than I could give you. Thanks for the wonderful story.

From now on, I am picking up hitchhikers just on the off chance that they are Hector.

(OP mentioned his name in a later comment, I'm not making a generalized Mexican name, unless he is)

This has inspired me to share. When I was in elementary school, my house was just inside of the area that the buses would go, so my mom had to drive my brother and I to school. Around third grade, we started noticing this mother and her little boy walking towards the school, and we always saw them around the same time of the morning. We offered them a ride, the mother accepted, and from then until the middle of fourth grade, we gave them a ride every morning. They were South American, the nationality escapes me now, but I distinctly remember the mother being very grateful for the ride.

It became so much of a routine that we bought a spanish-english dictionary and attempted some sort of communication. I don't remember their names or any specifics, but I saw the kid quite often around school and I knew that he was in ESOL classes. I'll never forget the look of utter gratefulness on the mom's face during those car rides, and the unspoken affirmative head nods that the kid and I shared in elementary school. I do not know what came of the kid, but I really hope that he remembers the kindness my mother offered and that he pays it forward.

holy damn. fucking onions, mannnn

That is honestly one of the most profoundly moving things I have read in my lifetime. Thank you.

Not that anyone will read this story so far down the comment list, but I had to hitch-hike once and it, too, was a pair of Mexican men who helped me out.

The following story is 100% true. Names have been changed for the privacy of those people involved.

1:20am - My friend Sally and I left a bar and ventured across the street to a lounge of sorts. 2:00am - We hail a taxi to get home...

Here is where the story begins, as I was entering the taxi, a man in a fancy Jaguar S-type 2007 honks at us from behind. He waves his hand as if to say "hey, come on and get in". In the hindered state that I was in, I thought it would be a great idea - so I took Sally by the hand, pulled her out of our taxi, and we got into the back seat of the Jaguar.

"Where are we headed?" I asked.

"We're going to the strip club."

"Sweet" I thought. Let's go! The man - named Carlos - and his rather lovely (second, as I would later learn) wife Ally (her name was changed) started to drive. Now I told him that I lived in Downtown, thinking I could get a free ride home. After about 5 minutes of driving, I realized that we had been going north - north, the opposite direction of where I live. Carlos started to talk about his thriving business, his wife smiled slyly the whole way. I was - under my have-a-good-time-whatever-the-cost exterior - really thinking "holy f**ing sh... what the f** did I just get myself into".

"Hey, where are we headed now?"

"Our house."

So we're driving for about 20 total minutes on the highway – where I had been texting everyone I knew in a sort of last words description of where I was in case they had to find my body - before we exited and started trekking through some god-knows-where street of suburbia.

Here was basically my "Oh Shit" moment. We arrive at their house. I will admit, their place was very lavish. They had a bar in their living room, a pool out back, and they had converted their garage into a nightclub-esque party scene. They immediately started to try and feed us drinks. Mango juice and Grey Goose, imported tequila, they had everything. The thing was, there was something really peculiar about the whole thing. My gut told me we had to get out of there. I had no idea where I was. When Sally and I went to the bathroom, the only thing I could tell her was "I don't know what I just got us into, but trust me. I promise I will get us out of here safe!" It became pretty apparent that Carlos and Ally were swingers, but who knew to what extent they were willing to go. Sally had been complaining that Carlos had been trying to feel her up whenever I wasn't around.

I had to come up with a plan, and I remembered that the original plan was for us to go to a strip club.

"Hey, when are we headed to this strip club you were talking about?"

Slightly offset, Carlos obliged to take us to the strip club. So again, the four of us, Carlos and his wife, Sally and I, started driving... north again. Further and further we were from home. We were driving down a long, somewhat shady street before finally (and thank god because I was imagining a warehouse with "devices" that they wanted to use) we came to a Gentleman's Club.

"I don't have any cash." I was hoping this was deter Carlos and somehow - magically - show him that all we really wanted to do was go home. But nope, he covered the $60 for all four of us to get in and we experienced some of the entertainment the city had to offer. I even got a short story about his son, yeah, his son with his first wife was older than me.

10 minutes into it, Carlos said: "Hey, this place is boring, why don't we go back to our place. It's MUCH more sexy there". Yup, I definitely knew what was going on. He told me that I could have his wife for the night if he could get with Sally. This was not going to happen, but we still needed to get back somehow, so we piled back into his Jaguar and started driving back.

On the way back, I knew there was no way I was going back into his house with his wife. At a traffic light near their place, I prayed that it would turn red, and it did. I took off my seatbelt, I undid Sally's, and we bolted out of the door and started running down the street. Luckily, they didn't chase after us and sped off. So Sally and I walked down this street for fifteen minutes back to the highway, where I realized we would need a taxi. I called Yellow Cab a couple times but they either didn't pick up or were busy. There was only one thing I could think of, and it was something I never thought I would do. I hitch hiked. Sally and I stuck our thumbs out and waited.

Driver after driver passed us, pretending not to notice us, or just blatantly speed by. I couldn't blame them, it's always a risk when you pick up hitchhikers (even if they are wearing a dress shirt and talking on their cellphone). But after about ten minutes, some guys stopped. These were two Mexican men - they couldn't speak English that well, and by the looks of their car (Corona bottles in the back) they had been drinking. But I didn't care, they offered a ride and I told them that they as long as they were going south, they could just bring us as far as they could and let us out.

Seconds felt like hours, did these men really know where we were headed? They had been drinking too, were we going to be safe going at 70 mph? Questions raced through my head, but 20-25 minutes later, I saw the sky scrapers ahead. I have never been so happy to see the buildings that occasionally dwarfed my apartment complex.

They dropped us off two blocks from my place, I offered them money (which they didn't take) and the only Spanish I could muster up was "mucho gracias". They drove off, and Sally and I slowly made our way through the streets of Downtown - I was finally home...

This was so beautiful, I shoved onions under my eyes to rid myself of any possibility of retaining any tear liquids. Thank you.

My father picked up an old man at a bus stop once, I was about 8, and my 3 siblings and mother were with us. It was cold and the bus wasn't coming for a while. My dad brought him to my house, and we all ate spaghetti and meatballs, chatted, shared stories. Guys name was Julius. I remember that day perfectly, changed my life early on, made me wanna be a better person, more like my dad.

This moved me more than I know how to say. But thank you for writing it and keep up the good work.

When I hear overpaid American's whine about illegal immigrants "stealing their jobs" it's stuff like this that makes me think, "good!".

Is there some kind of an exchange program we could enact?

I am a male and I laughed and cried at that story. THAT is humanity at its finest.

"Today you.... tomorrow me."

I got chills as I read that.

This reminds me of the time I lost control of my car on the freeway. It was an old little car, I was 16 and I spun out due to the construction grooves in the pavement. I was fine, but three people pulled over to check on me. I was ok and had a cell phone, but pretty freaked since my parents were out of town. One guy who stopped (very businessman like) was like, "Here, I can't stay, have a meeting, but this should help" and passed me some money. I was still in shock from the crash and i just accepted it and thanked him as best as I could in my shaky little voice. Another guy stayed with me until the tow truck came. Once in the tow truck, I remembered the money towing costs and checked my pocket. The guy gave me $200! I had no idea how to get a hold of him, (I would have paid him back, for sure) but it blew my mind that someone would help me out like that. Especially since it was in a po-dunk area of Oregon. He must have been passing through...AND he must have given me all the money in his wallet. Needless to say, he saved me from the ridiculous towing bill, but I still have a soul-itch because I can't find him. So, whenever I find someone who needs a little money (rent, unexpected expense, some kind of fund, etc) I help if I have even a scrap of money because I want to pay it forward...

In my experience Mexicans tend to be much much kinder and giving than Americans.

I've always been the type that stops and helps in these types of situations too; helping little old ladies push their car through the intersection after a stall, etc. I'm always sickened by how many people will pass this situation without a second thought. I've never helped change a tire, because I've never come across the situation but earlier this week my truck just died in the middle of the road. The traffic was terrible. I could've pushed it off to the side myself, aside from the fact that it was on a slight hill and as soon as I stepped out it rolled back and I couldn't catch it.

So there I am, just sitting in my truck trying to think of something to do, getting the evil eye from everyone who passed, when two big polynesians who were heading the other way stopped next to me and asked "Need some help?" All I could do was grin, sigh, and say "Yes... yes I do." They said "Ok, we'll turn around and come back." First, they had to turn into the big traffic mess I'd caused by the breakdown then they pushed me onto the shoulder. Afterwards they asked if I needed a tow. I told them no thanks, they'd done enough and I wasn't sure where I would've towed it to anyways. In either case, they made me feel happy to be a human and something that could've been just a shitty day was actually kind of a cool thing.

Just helped a guy change his tire in the snow because of this. I was caught at a long red light and saw this guy stuck on the side of the road. Couple people slowed down, started to pull over, saw it was a black guy, then took off. I pulled over and helped him out. Lent him my jack since his car didn't come with one, and helped him change the tire. Seemed like the kind of guy would have been clueless as to why his lugnuts wouldn't come off. (They were the plastic vanity lugs that hold the hubcap on." He tried to offer me money, I just said, "Today you, tomorrow me." Way to inspire a nation, rhoner.

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That's a surprisingly profound quote. Thanks for sharing.

That's just beautiful.

That was a lovely story. It's pretty amazing how people who have it so hard, and get shit on so many times in the US, go out of their way to do something so nice for someone else

I can't believe there were any downvotes on this. I almost wish reddit exposed downvotes..... well only if I also had a greasemonkey script to ignore everyone who downvoted this

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After being on reddit for a little over 6 months no story has ever moved me like this. I plan on making this a part of who I am now because of your story. Thank you.

This story reminds me a lot of a part in the Ghost Mice song "English Channel"

He said he stopped to pick us up
Because we looked so out of luck
He was havin' a bad day too
But he thought we had him beat
It was his philosophy that if you see
Someone in a worse way than you
It's your ethical obligation
To stop and see what you can do
I wish that everyone thought that too

If anyone is interested in the song

That was an awesome story. Gives me hope for people out there. Thank you.

That's it! I'm ending my night in this thread. I don't want another story to bring down the emotional high just reading this gave me. Thank both you and the OP for sharing these stories. I actually feel good about my fellow man and want to go to bed on this feeling. Thanks for being awesome people.

Sort of related on nice people.

My cousin once told me how if it weren't were his grandpa, our ethnic group in Chicago would not be as big as it is today. I asked my parents if they knew about my cousin's grandpa, and they started telling me stories.

Apparently, he immigrated to the USA (Chicago) from Punjab, India, around the 1960s. He was one of the first Punjabis there, so naturally, people in Punjab would ask him to help them to come to America. They told stories of how so many people would ask for help and how he would never turn anyone down. He filled out all the required paper work for every single person/family that wanted to come to the US. He kept in contact with everybody to make sure everything went as planned. My parents said he played a role in them coming to America too.

When they were finishing, they started saying that he was the nicest guy they ever met. He never turned anyone down and constantly helped those who asked for it. It was really eerie to listen to someone talking about how nice someone could be. I never heard my parents praise anyone as much as they did my cousin's grandpa. It's weird to say, he's a big role model for me even though he's passed away and I hardly know anything about him.

I cried reading "Today you.... tomorrow me."