Saturday, 20 June 2009

What would you have done?

Ethan is my wife's 18 year old son. I have watched him from the age of 8 and can say without hesitation that he has grown into a very decent young man. He has that air of being streetwise and yet naive at the same time. This is a trait that only young adults seems to have. Anyway it transpires that a few weeks back he was driving home in the early hours of Sunday morning when he encountered a man lying on the pavement. Ethan then did a number of things the I confess I would not. First. He stopped his car. Second. He got out of the car. Third. He approached the man and asked him if was ok. He was just very drunk apparently. Fourth. He offered to drive him home. Fifth. He did drive him home. I didn't occur to Ethan that a man lying drunk on the pavement may pose a threat to him. His instinct was, when he saw a person in trouble, to help. I guess the world would be in safe hands if the next generation all thought and behaved as Ethan but I guess it just doesn't work like that. I can't criticise him for his act of kindness but at the same time because I am older and corrupt of spirit, I cannot condone him either. Oh by the way, when they arrived at the mans house he handed Ethan a £50 note as a thankyou.

1 comment:

  1. When I was a teenager a man came to our house with a case of wine for my Dad. I thought it was really odd, my Dad is not much of a drinker and wouldn't order wine to be delivered. I asked Mum why it had arrived and she didn't know either. Apparently when my dad was driving home from work late at night (he was working away during the week at the time) he saw a car in between some trees fallen in a ditch. It was only just visible from the road and on a dark deserted road. My Dad had stopped and helped the man, called the emergency servies etc. What struck me the most about all of this wasn't the fact he had stopped (my dad is a very lovely, kind man) but that he hadn't told us all about it. He is a very modest man and not prone to brag or show off. This is a quality I admire perhaps even more than the kindness itself.

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