I want to tell you a story. A story of the good people of this country. How different beliefs and ways of life don’t need to be an excuse not to be kind and compassionate towards fellow humans.
My husband and I flew our Mooney airplane to Greenville Alabama a couple of weeks ago, on our way to Florida. We were pushing to get past a storm build up in the midwest. We didn’t think much of what we’d do once we got there.
At 8pm we landed in a darkened airport on the outskirts of a small cluster of street lights. There was no lights except one small one near the fuel pumps. As far as we could see was darkness. As Jim unloaded our overnight bags from the plane, I called some local hotels to make sure we had a bed to sleep in. That accomplished we tied down the plane assured we wouldn’t be sleeping under the wings for the night.
I searched on google for a taxi to take us to the hotel, and I was astonished to not find one. I called back to the hotel that my intuition indicated would be the best place to stay and asked the front desk clerk if she could recommend a taxi service.
She returned, “Ma’m we don’t have any taxi service here. ”
What? No taxis? I had lived in a town of 14,000 people and there were taxis. It never occurred to me that we would arrive someplace and not have a way of getting to a hotel.
“Oh well,” I replied, ” do you have any suggestions on how we can get from the airport to your hotel?”
“The police can pick you up.” She stated matter-of-factly.
“What? The police?” I briefly wondered if we had done something wrong and were now going to spend the night in the local jail.
“Yeah, they give people rides. Call me back in five minutes and I’ll give them a call.”
Jim and I finished preparing the plane for the night, and joked about the possibility of being picked up by the local police. In five minutes I called Tammy back.
“The police are on their way.” Tammy said.
I still couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Wow, thank you! I’m so appreciative of all your help!”
“It’s no problem, see you in a bit.”
And a few minutes later Jim and I were standing outside the Greenville airport gate, wondering what was going to happen when the police arrived.
One lone car headed our way. It was a big, black and white Ford Explorer with POLICE neatly lettered on the side.
A fully armed police officer stepped out of the car. “I hear you need a ride to the Comfort Inn.”
Jim and I were still confounded by the situation. “Yes, if you have the time, we would appreciate it.”
“No problem at all, hop in.”
He opened the back doors to his SUV, cleared out the back seat, and in we got.
The friendly man told us all about Greenville. Population 14,000, major employer is Hyundai. The hotels in the area fill up almost every night as they were on I 65, a corridor through Alabama, that lots of people traveled. Crime was low there.
Ten minutes later he dropped us off at the Comfort Inn. While others were getting out of their vehicles, we were getting out our bags from the back of a Police car. I wondered what people thought?
We walked in the through the sliding glass doors, and there sat this angel of a woman, Tammy, checking in another couple at the front desk.
“Hi! You must be the folks from the airport.”
“Yes! Thank you so much for arranging a ride for us.”
“No problem. I used to work down there, so I just called them up. It’s a quiet night. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
And let me tell you, Tammy didn’t take off her angel wings once we had arrived to the hotel. She also got us some really good BBQ from Fireman’s BBQ. They had been closed for a half hour, but they gladly made us some food to go. And the food was delicious! Tammy even loaned us her car so we could drive there! Who does that these days?
Tammy, and all the people like her.
That’s what makes this world go around. People like her is what makes the world a place I want to live. It reminds us we are all human.
I don’t know Tammy’s political beliefs, or environmental stance. She didn’t care what ours was either. We were fellow humans in need of assistance that night, and that’s all she saw. And that’s all the people of the great town of Greenville Alabama saw too.
And they made me a better person for it.
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