Goodness gracious...
Recently, my car's side view mirror got cracked and needed to be fixed. I took it to a collision shop that had previously worked on my car, and hence the owner Jason, remembered my car (even if he didn’t remember me) just because its one amongst two metallic gold colored cougars in the whole of buffalo NY! Jason took one quick look at it and said that if I left the car with him for an hour he could check to see if he could just fix it by putting it back or gluing it. He also informed me that he won’t charge me anything for a simple thing like that.
Now, being a long standing and frequent victim of extortion of all sorts in my own country, such a notion of "free service" is as alien to me as I am to this country. So naturally I mumbled something to the effect of "That’s ridiculous. Of course I will pay you something for your time... however insignificant" ... in an effort to maybe rationalize his act of sudden kindness.
After an hour, he informed me that the mirror couldn’t be fixed and that I should get it replaced. A new mirror he showed me in the book was listed at $142 for my car's year, make and model. He once again said that he will not charge me anything for labor since it was not a big deal to put the new mirror on. So I asked him to order the new mirror for me.
On my way back, I tried to push the old mirror in place so that I could at least use it till it got replaced. To my surprise, it snapped into place, and although the plastic around was a bit cracked, it held more or less firmly in place. Now I felt a bit itchy. Did Jason really try to fix it at all? Or did he just say that it cant be fixed so that he can get me to replace it with a new one? Or was he telling the truth that he didn't know how long the mirror would stay in place even if it was pushed into place like I did?
Anyhow, I planned on going ahead with the mirror change because I didn’t want to take a chance with it later. But it went on bothering me a bit, because I guess I was frantically looking for a reason for Jason's willingness to ease off on the labor charges. He was supposed to get the mirror 2 days later, and then he said he would need to paint the mirror to match my car's color (more labor!!) and then he would dry it. So I was supposed to go back in 3 days to get it put on.
On my way to get the car fixed, suddenly it struck me. What about the old mirror? The mirror was still fine.. so was Jason going to keep it and sell it by himself? So I made it a point to ask him about it.. and was hoping that he doesn’t add labor for all the painting and all. I reached the shop with my head full of skepticism.
Jason greets me "Hey buddy... the mirror is all painted and set to go... and I shall leave your old mirror in the back seat... that mirror portion is still fine.. so you should hang on to it... and its $142 if you pay in cash... by credit I have to add tax.."
Somehow... without me even saying anything all my doubts were trashed out the window. I left the car for an hour to get fixed and later paid him in cash and drove out. As I was driving to school, I was wondering to myself... is it really that difficult for me to accept that someone out there can still be nice and kind... without having any ulterior motive? Or was it the world around us that makes us tumble so often that we become wary of goodness itself?? Oh my goodness...
posted by Joy Ghosh at 3:39 PM
9 Comments:
Knowing you, more often than not you doubt people and get irritated that people take advantage and koi kaam nahi hota and .....so on .... Isliye god did not want tht belief in you to die out and this
happened to your car and u met this owner who showed you the act of goodness :)
Also, I can bring a link btwn your last 2 posts...since this man was
good to you..in a way he was onest and made you smile and have faith and keep it going..(in the sense usne tumhein cheat nahi kiya..to tum bhi kisiko cheat nahi karoge)(not tht u do, but kabhi kabhi just bcoz we are treated in a way we also treat others in tht way saying ki hum hi kyon sahe..and vent out our frustration)
Now he was good to you so you can pay it forward by being good to
someone else..and in turn tht person can continue the chain ....
Try to believe in and trust people a little more than you do..The world is balanced with good and bad..so your probability of coming across goodness is 50% , not bad huh? :)
not bad at all :))
joy, i believe it is the world around us that makes us so. we are all, even the best of us, essentially victims, corrupt-ED. some more others less.
your posts display consistent awareness. keep it up :).
Joy
Is this the same car that got taken from you last summer? Sure gives you a lot of trouble, but also teaches you good lessons. :):)
@kundalini - i guess we are all caught up in this "awareness" flu :) and once u catch it.. its hard to let go. its almost like a different state of being... and i know you know what i am talking about :)
@ventilatorblues - yeah.. come to think of it.. this car is proving to be a worthy transport even in my journey of life.. reminds me of the airplane richard bach spoke of in his novel "One" :)
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As mtalpz says, theres 50% probabilty of coming across a nice person while walking on the street of life. This world still has the nice people, its just that too much bad in this world has compelled us to become bias. And when someone is nice to you, he/she can make your day, and hence provoke you to be nice to the world. If u imagine the avalanche effect of this, a single "nice" deed can effect the life of millions. Why not make this world a better place to be?
Reminds me of Michael Jackson's "Heal the World"
that was the theme of the movie "pay it forward" :)
i totally agree. We/Our friends have seen people (businessmen) cheating others, that we somehow get a notion, that everyone out there is the same. So, when someone does a good deed... we think that there must be some ulterior motive behind it.
well written...and so very true... it's difficult to meet good business people...and if we do, its difficult for us to digest...that they are really good :)
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