When you think of teenagers, do you automatically think “good samaritans?” Do you immediately conjure up images of sweet, polite kids who go out of their way to help others? Probably not! Some adults might stereotype teenagers as rude or rebellious. Today’s kids get an especially bad rap because they spend so much time staring at screens. The reality is, though, that genuinely good teenagers are everywhere, just like they’ve always been.
Like many teenagers, Aeron McQuillin, Bailey Campbell, and Billy Tarbett were up past midnight, walking around their hometown in Ontario, Canada. But they weren’t being obnoxious or looking for trouble. They were leaving an evening swim and hoping to hang out at a coffee shop late into the night.
Maybe the trio had been joking around a bit or looking at their phones as they headed towards the coffee shop. Regardless of what they had been focused on, they were astute enough to notice a car stopped on the side of the highway. Waves of steam were leaking from under the hood. Fortunately for the woman whose car it was, the three young men knew a bit about mechanics.
Good Samaritans To The Rescue
Instead of walking past the broken-down car and distraught woman, McQuillin, Campbell, and Tarbett decided to skip the coffee shop and help out. They popped open the hood, checked the car’s engine, and knew that it would be dangerous to start the motor. Upon hearing this news, the car’s owner became upset; she couldn’t afford a tow truck, and her destination was more than four miles away.
That’s when a string of heart-warming events occurred.
Opting to stay and help solve this problem was an easy decision for all three boys. The question was, how would they help her with the minimal amount of money they had? Fifteen-year-old Billy Tarbett suggested the unthinkable: Push the car all the way to her house. Without a moment’s pause, the three young men worked together to push the car up the hilly highway. Instead of running off to enjoy their carefree night or whining about missing their coffee shop time, they decided to look at the positives, including the fact that they were getting great exercise!
Caring Is Contagious
Some say that good deeds are contagious. Even though it was the middle of the night, another good samaritan appeared to help out. Dan Morrison, a father of two from Niagara Falls, saw the band of teenagers pushing the car along the highway. His paternal instincts kicked in and he decided to help by following along and keeping them safe from oncoming traffic. Morrison could have headed home and gotten a good night’s sleep, yet he chose to stay up and help the best way he could at that moment by turning on his emergency blinkers and protecting the group.
The team worked together for another two hours, finally arriving at the woman’s home around 4 am. Together, they successfully pushed the car four miles!
Kindness For The Sake Of Kindness
The kindness didn’t stop there, however. When Dan Morrison made a social media post about the experience, strangers started reaching out offering gift cards and home-cooked meals. While many people would have loved the opportunity to accept gifts, this group of good samaritans said. ‘no, thank you’. They declined the generous offers in order to make the point that they acted kindly just for the sake of helping someone, not in order to receive anything in return.
Next time you catch yourself dwelling on the cruelty of humans, recall this story and remember: kindness is everywhere, even in the hearts of total strangers.
