Sylvia,

That is a wonderful post. There are definitely still men who will go to the aid of "a damsel in distress".

A few years ago, I was driving back to my office from an appointment one afternoon. It was nice out, so I had my windows down. I stopped at a stop light at a busy intersection and all of a sudden, several bees flew into my car.

I kept my wits about me (very tough to do with them swarming about me very aggressively) and when the light turned green, I quickly pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant and jumped out of my car.

To my horror, some of the bees followed me and they were in hot pursuit. I remember being aware of what a show I must be putting on for the people eating lunch at the restaurant as I ran through the parking lot in my fire engine red suit and black high heels trying to lose the bees.

I was humiliated at the thought of the spectacle that I had become, but I was also quite desperate to avoid being stung multiple times.

And then a very, very old man came running out the front door of the restaurant with a newspaper in his hand. He began to swat at the bees to make them leave me alone. When he was sure I was safe, he went into my car and swatted at the bees that were still in there.

When he made sure they were all out of my car, he got out of my car and yelled "get in and go" and I did. As I took off, I yelled "thank you".

As I drove away, I could see him in my rear view mirror, running, and the bees were chasing him and he was swatting at them as he ran back into the restaurant and I remember how grateful I felt and I hoped he was ok.

I could tell from the look on his face that he was as scared of the bees as I was, but that didn't stop him from making sure that I was safe. What a sweet and chivalrous gentleman he was.

I had a man changing my flat tire on a freeway. It was a big deal for me because I cannot do it myself and I was on a busy freeway far away from home. I just sat there trying to call on my cell phone. I was happy he stopped and it was very hot outside but he did it for me.

As a direct result of this thread, I remembered something.

My mother was was a narcissist & an abuser, & one thing that enraged her & guaranteed us kids a beating with a razor strap was getting positive attention ourselves, unless it reflected glory on her.

She especially had it in for me, since I represented female competition.

so I was surprised, when I was about to start 7th grade, when she told everybody,all my aunts & stuff, that she had decided that I would have contact lenses, which were a new thing at the time.

She told everybody that, whenever "alllll the sisters-in-law & allllll her friends" were flabbergasted at the *money* she was talking about spending on a 12-13 year old girl, she told them, "If she's ever going to have contacts, she needs them now, when she's going into junior high & she's becoming a teen-ager."

(I had very strong lenses, & at that time there were no plastic lenses, so I had Coke-bottle glasses, very unattractive.)

My mother was a "homemaker", no job, & she did know how to drive, & she did have a car.

*My father took time off work to drive me to Waco & back for several appointments.*

Just because of this thread, I woke up this morning with the realization that the contact lenses were my father's idea, & that he stood up to my mother to make sure I got them.
He's been gone for many years, & he never said word.

you know those little quizzes that people take where one of the questions is always something like "If you could have any person, living or dead, at a dinner party, who would you have"?

I'd have my daddy.

My first husband was killed in a plane crash that I witnessed. I foolishly thought he might have survived and from the airport, I called our physician who also happened to be a dear, close friend. I thought he would meet us at the emergency room. Instead, he made his way immediately to the airport through the traffic jam that resulted from the plane crash.

Immediately after the crash, the plane my husband was in burst into flames. The local fire department did not have the correct material to extinguish aviation fuel, so the fire had to burn itself out.

With the urging of the county coroner, our friend drove me home. Once home, I received a call from the funeral home where they had taken my husband's remains. My first thought was to go immediately to the funeral home to be with his body; my second thought was maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

I asked my good friend the doctor...our good friend...my husband's good friend...if he would go to the funeral home, view my DH's remains, come back and tell me if he thought I should see what remained of my husband --- I trusted his judgment if viewing the remains would provide comfort or add to my trauma.

Bless his heart...that man did exactly what I asked. He went and viewed what was left of my husband. He came back and told me not to view the remains...so I worked out an agreement with the funeral home that they would cover the body bag with a sheet and I could at least be with what was left of him.

My husband had been this fellow's close friend. It had to have been traumatic for him to have seen what I asked him to view...but he did it to save me from further damage....

At the time, I don't think I realized what I had asked him to do...it was an act of unselfish kindness and compassion I could never repay.

I am so sorry wrychocie you had to live through that. I am glad you had such a good friend by your side to help you.

We had a family friend who saved a lot of people during Nazi occupation, like 40-50 people or so. I remember him only vaguelly, we have him and his wife on family pictures. I remember him being very honored in a community and beyond that. I remember impressive funeral when he died some time in late 1980s. It seems unreal that we actually knew this courageous man in person.

I remember getting stuck in the mud once waaay off the beaten track in rural Oklahoma. It was on the shoulder of a road -- aparently very soft mud covered in a fine layer of dust. I was on a business trip and dressed in high heels and a dark suit, and this was before cell phones became commonplace.

Several cars drove past with only curious looks until a young single man in a beat up pickup truck stopped to help. I was a bit nervous because frankly, he looked pretty disreputable with a straggly beard, rock concert T-shirt and long hair. But he offered help and I needed it - so I accepted gratefully. He had a few boards in the back of his pickup that he put below the tires -- no luck. (At this point, a state trooper drives by in his car, but does he stop to help? No!) Anyway, the man in the pickup ended up literally taking the shirt off his back and laying down in the mud to get my car unstuck!

Of course, I thanked him profusely, and had about $50 in cash that I offered him, but he refused, and simply said that he hoped someone would do the same for his wife. I'm very grateful and glad that in his case, appearances were deceiving.