Wannaskan Almanac for Tuesday, March 18, 2025 The Correct Change

Somebody ran into my truck.

I read with interest Wannaska Writer's blog called "Thanks for Stopping".  His line, "People don't stop to help like they used to.  Times Change." resonated with me.  We aren't as friendly to strangers as we used to be.  I can remember many times when I was young stopping to help people and having people stop to help me.  I think the Bible says it best:

Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,  treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Too many of us just read the last couple of words...avoid such people.  We assume that everyone else fits into the first part of the passage but that we are somehow better than those "others".  Food for thought.

Anyway, knowing Wannaska Writer like I do, I can't see him ever ignoring a person in distress...no matter how cold it is.  He is a good guy, and his jumper cables and automotive expertise are always at the ready.

Like I said, someone ran into my truck.  Sometimes I get distracted you know.  Distracted.  That is a funny word. I wonder if anyone ever gets tracted?  (go get yourself a cup of coffee, like I just did)

A couple of months ago I finally got around to putting fender flares on my truck.  They covered up the big rust holes that Chevrolet is so famous for...the ones right above the rear tires.  The other day I walked by and noticed that something (I assume another vehicle being driven by a human) had left a crack and a scuff across my new fender flare.  

In the spirit of people just don't care like they used to, nobody had left a note on my windshield saying "Sorry I ran into your car," or something like that.  They just left.  I thought to myself, "People don't take responsibility like they used to.  Times change."  Maybe they saw my awesome 26 year old vehicle and thought "that guy could easily afford to fix that on his own."  

I see this kind of behavior every day in Middle School.  I watch in lunch as student after student "drops" something on the floor, and they pretends that they didn't see it.  The same thing happens in the hallway and classroom.  I think there is a persistent thought that if you pretend to not see something it didn't happen.  You can stay in your self-absorbed world and not have to take responsibility for anything.  

Can't someone else get it?

It gets even worse.  We have cameras all over the school, and when a student is caught doing something wrong and they are shown the video, the first words out of their mouth is "that wasn't me".  It seems like many people are very much just lovers of themselves.  Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything.

So I am not going to fix that fender.  Every time I see it, I will remind myself that I need to be better.  If I see someone in distress I should stop.  If I create a mess I will clean it (unless my wife is there...she really likes to clean up my messes).  If I scratch someones door or dent someones fender I will take responsibility for it.  I want to remember to be a responsible person.  God help me if I forget!