What would you have done?

My friend Linda and I came out of church one Sunday morning a few weeks ago, to find that the car parked behind us had its front hood up.  Propped up by the driver's door, was the owner, a regular looking guy in his late thirties, smoking a cigarette.

OF COURSE, I had to ask him if he needed a boost, as I had booster cables in my trunk.
Without remembering every little detail, this is the story he told me, more or less.

"I left (Edmundston?) this morning. I am on my way to visit my 81 year old father in Saint John.  I stopped in Campbellton at Tim's, and there I changed my jacket to a lighter one, since it was warm out.  It was only when I took the Bathurst exit to find a gas station to fill up, that I realized I had left my OTHER jacket behind, with my wallet, credit cards, and cellphone, in Campbellton.  I have no money for gas, and I was hoping some people could help me out, so I can get to Saint John."

He said all this in a very matter of fact way.  OF COURSE, I had to ask a few questions, to which he replied, "Yeah, I called Tim's from the gas bar and no, the jacket is there but there is no wallet, nor cellphone in the pockets."  "Yeah, I also called my father so he wouldn't worry." "Yes, I cancelled my credit card."

OF COURSE, I then pulled out $20 out of my wallet and gave it to him. He thanked me politely, and said he only needed another $5 to be able to fill up his tank, as a few other people had given him money.  As he said this, Linda, who had been in the car, came out, heard a summarized version of his story from me, and promptly gave him $10.  He thanked us again, got in his car, and drove off.

OF COURSE, we were left wondering, as WE drove off to fill up Linda's car, if we should have handled this differently. Maybe we should have offered to put $30 in his car, by following him to the gas bar.  Furthermore, Linda thought his story a little odd, in that he shouldn't be going to Saint John, via Bathurst and Campbellton, if he is from Edmundston. However, it is possible that in MY recollection of his story, I made an error in his departure point.

Anyway, after musing over this incident, we decided that if it were a scam, it was a poor one, because hardly anyone came out of church. There was a "Share Lunch" in the church basement after mass, so most people went there, thereby not going out to their cars.  Furthermore, if it was a scam, "Hey!", what goes around comes around, sooner or later.

However, our ultimate conclusion was that we had helped out a fellow human being in need. It wasn't up to us to decide how and why the money we freely gave, was spent!
We will never know whether his story was true or not, but I have a feeling it was.