“Jim Class” is a feature that airs within The HomeFix Show. Wrtiten by original charter show listener Jim Forrer from Caldwell Idaho, Jim shares his observations, life experiences, and lessons learned in life. Joe Prin reads these at various times in most of the HomeFix Shows. Here is the original written text.
There are many unexpected events in our daily lives which get turned around backwards. Sometimes they are topsy-turvy and place you flat on your back.
It seems, no matter how well you plan your day, delays are unavoidable. I was running late because of a last minute material pickup. Starting out at 10:30 for the job site is not my idea of being punctual. But, still another delay was in store, as I drove down one of Caldwell’s side streets.
A small group of individuals standing in the roadway garnered my attention initially. As I advanced slowly, I could see the reason of the gathering. There had been two cars coalescing at the intersection. The subsequent collision was between David and Goliath, only this time David lost. Goliath was an older Buick and David was a VW Hatchback. The Buick sustained very little damage, probably because it had a REAL BUMPER. The VW had been T-Boned and had rolled over onto its top. When I pulled over and stopped, I jumped out to assess and assist in helping. The small crowd of people were hanging well back from the scene. One of the observers yelled out, “Watch out, there’s gas all over the place. We called the cops and she’s not hurt, so you better get out of there”. Ignoring his warning, I ran to the car. The lady indeed seemed uninjured, but was highly agitated. I tried to open the nearest door, but could not. She confirmed that she was fine and dandy. She just wanted out.
My innate Samaritan trait kicked in and drove me into action. I ran back to my truck, grabbed the 6 ft. digging iron. I jammed the chisel blade into the edge of the car door and was about to give leverage. “STOP, don’t hurt my car”! I almost laughed. Here she was, in a wrecked car, the whole side caved in and sitting on its top and she didn’t want me to cause any damage. “I think I can get out the back”. She squirmed around like a little kid would do and made it to the back. I tried to open the hatchback, but to no avail. She, with her skirt up where her neckline should be, and with a bad hair day, placed both feet against the glass. Pushing with all that was in her, straining red faced, she popped the hatchback open. As she was crawling out, I took hold under her arms and helped her to her feet. By now she was crying in a deluge of despair. I told her that everything was okay and there was no reason to continue her crying for if she didn’t stop, she would get her shoes all wet. Not nearly as funny as I thought it would sound.
All this time, that small group of folks never made a move to offer any assistance whatsoever.
It seemed to me that everything was playing out in slow motion, but of course it was not. All the emergency agencies seemed to appear at once; Police, fire and ambulance. The EMT personnel and Fire rescue were extremely efficient and attended to the lady without hesitation. As they were placing the lady on the Stokes, she went into shock and quickly passed out. She sustained no injury at all and recovered before they pulled away.
I arrived at the job site late.