学进去

My brother and I were driving home together and started talking. As a result of this distraction, my brother took a wrong turn. Unluckily, the wrong turn took us towards a bridge and we had no way of turning back. My brother had to pay to cross. He was clearly unhappy with the mistake and the needless waste of $4.

As we drove forward, my brother noticed an old car stopping on the road. A young man was standing nearby, trying to hone someone. I was busy trying to find out which way we should go next but my brother stopped our car and asked the man if he needed any help. And he did! He had a flat tire.

My brother helped him change the tire. We started getting to know the young man. He said that this had been a bad week for him. Earlier he had gotten into a car accident, and now this tire on his way home didn’t work. But he called us “a breath of fresh air” and kept thanking us because he really would have been in big trouble if we hadn’t come along. After we finished the job, he thanked us again and tried to give us $20. “No,” I said.   “We had never thought about getting to the end of that bridge. We took a wrong turn. But now we know why we did it. It was to help you! Thank you for turning our mistake into a chance to help.”

My brother taught me a lot. He was able to turn his annoyance over the mistake into positive energy. He was able to see a chance to help (which I totally missed) even in a negative situation which could only come from a calm mind and an open heart. That was the bridge we should cross.