THE GAS CAP GUY

“And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” (2 Peter 1:7)

This morning, I was on my way to an appointment in Arlington, roughly 25 miles northeast of Framingham. As I was stopped in a line of cars at a traffic light in Belmont near the Arlington line, the guy in the white compact car behind me got out of the car and began walking up to my car.

My first reaction was to feel uneasy. “What does THIS GUY want?!” I thought. I certainly did not want to hear something like, “Do you know there’s some sort of liquid pouring from your car?” or “Did you know you ran over a dog back there?” or something even worse.

Instead, the guy handed me the GAS CAP to my 1995 Subaru!

I had “gassed up” in Framingham. For some reason there was a problem with my credit card’s magnetic strip. The pump scanner would not read it. I’d had to make two or three trips into the gas station to speak to the attendant at the indoor controls. Ultimately, I had to pay with my credit card inside after I had pumped the gas. I remember taking the gas cap off and laying it in the crease area between the back window and the trunk. I got so flustered with the credit card problem that I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE GAS CAP! The amazing thing is that I drove about 20 miles, much of it HIGHWAY driving and the gas cap NEVER FELL OFF! I have to say, that was a “God thing”. In the past, I’ve been known to forget to put gas caps back on and usually they’ll fall off within a mile. A number of years ago, I did that with my 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass. The gas cap fell off the car as I made a turn in Framingham. I got out of the car that day and found it, but the plastic gas cap was badly cracked and damaged. I remember I had to buy a new one at an auto parts store.

I was very grateful for that guy this morning! I felt kind of ashamed that I expected him to just be a pain in the neck. He was a real help- literally a Godsend! I’d have totally forgotten about that gas cap. Eventually I’d have gone to get gas someplace, found out that the gas cap was gone and been quite upset. (I know that on most late model cars, the CHECK ENGINE light comes on if the gas cap is not on, and that’s a big clue, but remember that this is a 1995 car which does not have that feature!)

People. Why are some SO nice and some so surly?

Today, in the afternoon, I worked a temporary job passing out flyers at the entrance of a “big box” store. Some people were SO friendly and eagerly took the flyers, thanking me. Some gave dirty looks and said things like, “I don’t want it!”. The worst was, “I’m GOOD!” I wanted to say to those, “Yeah, you’re good, I’ll bet you're a real piece of work!” but of course, I didn’t! One wore a tee shirt containing an obscenity. He just walked by disgustedly, and I really wasn’t surprised.

The fascinating thing was that if one person eagerly took a flyer and said, “Thank you!” the 4 or 5 people immediately behind him or her would all eagerly take the flyers and say, “Thank you!” too! If one person disgustedly said, “No, NOT INTERESTED!” the 4 or 5 people immediately behind him or her would all disgustedly say, “No, NOT INTERESTED!”

One guy even waved his hand in a “NO!” gesture and said he didn’t want the flyer. The person behind him did THE EXACT SAME THING!

So, we tend to COPY the behavior we see! It’s a rare person who DOESN’T...who knows who he or she is and does not become unduly influenced by those around him or her. That’s like that guy bringing me my gas cap. Would you have done that? Or would you have just thought, “It’s not my problem!”

I’ve been known to tell people things like, “Do you know you have a brake light out?” I’ve actually gotten out of the car at a red light and done that. But would I have actually grabbed and returned a gas cap? I’m not sure. I’m glad that guy did!