People love to help others! The Dalai Lama commented that when he asks people what was the best time of their life, the inevitably recount a time when. they helped another person. This is how the Holy Spirit works through us.
My experience as well, Matt; give young people a project they can do with their hands, something where their effort truly matters (like when I asked some students to help me build a fence, and said I would pay them in food), and they come running.
I agree with all the comments about how good it feels to help someone.
But another possibility exists. Many years ago, when my daughter was perhaps five or seven years old, my car (also a Volkswagen, but a Jetta tdi) died near the house. I suggested she help me push it, and she was flabergasted by the notion that a person could actually move a car. When we did get it to the driveway, she was thoroughly impressed and told all her buddies about the experience.
Perhaps your kids were just really excited to learn that they did something far outside what they considered the realm of possibility.
I think _all_ people, not just the young, are hungry for something human and real. (At least until the desire has been brainwashed out of them by consumer culture.) But youth have an additional need borne of their intrinsically high energy levels (and the unhelpfully sedentary setting of most academic instruction). So glad you got to make those teenagers' day!
You did do them a favor, Matthew. I am firmly convinced that there is a deep human need to pitch in and help others. Without taking advantage of people, we do a service to our fellow humans when we ask for and accept their help. Would that a wave of asking like this arise.
About fifteen years ago, I was working alone in a youthcentre in a "rough" part of Hong Kong.
I felt some fear when a gang of rough looking teen boys came in one day. Rather than steal from me or beat me up, they told me that I had left my car unlocked and that it was not safe! It was a rust-bucket VW, very old and similar outwardly to yours.
The young men that I had been warned about, turned out to become my friends and protectors, some of which I had the fun of teaching how to drive in that car!
Are you now a resident of Cali? . . . . funny this came across my bow. A friend who actually lives in the south bay relayed a similar story she had last Friday evening in Truckee when her tire had a flat and a Ukrainian came to their aid and just said, "I am Ukrainian. This is what we do. Help others."
The bug is looking good compared to that video from 5 years ago! I'm in the process right now of pulling the m60 V8 from my BMW 740i for a rebuild: threw a rod, so hopefully the block and crank are salvageable. Good time to add some power while its out
I live in Canada. I remember lots of moments like during the winters of my youth in Montreal. Heavy snow would leave drivers stuck all over the place. My friends and I must have helped hundreds of them over the years. It was a kind thing to do and great exercise.
trust in the Bay Area? Recent pew data says this about San Francisco:
California: 35% of its residents (about the national average) say most people can be trusted, but San Franciscans are nearly twice as likely as people in Riverside to feel so trustful (46% vs. 24%).
I’m a delivery driver and I pulled onto some grass to let a box truck past on a rural dirt road. I got stuck in the mud. A guy in a beat up old Honda minivan stopped and backed his van into mine and shoved me back into the road.
People love to help others! The Dalai Lama commented that when he asks people what was the best time of their life, the inevitably recount a time when. they helped another person. This is how the Holy Spirit works through us.
My experience as well, Matt; give young people a project they can do with their hands, something where their effort truly matters (like when I asked some students to help me build a fence, and said I would pay them in food), and they come running.
I agree with all the comments about how good it feels to help someone.
But another possibility exists. Many years ago, when my daughter was perhaps five or seven years old, my car (also a Volkswagen, but a Jetta tdi) died near the house. I suggested she help me push it, and she was flabergasted by the notion that a person could actually move a car. When we did get it to the driveway, she was thoroughly impressed and told all her buddies about the experience.
Perhaps your kids were just really excited to learn that they did something far outside what they considered the realm of possibility.
I think _all_ people, not just the young, are hungry for something human and real. (At least until the desire has been brainwashed out of them by consumer culture.) But youth have an additional need borne of their intrinsically high energy levels (and the unhelpfully sedentary setting of most academic instruction). So glad you got to make those teenagers' day!
You did do them a favor, Matthew. I am firmly convinced that there is a deep human need to pitch in and help others. Without taking advantage of people, we do a service to our fellow humans when we ask for and accept their help. Would that a wave of asking like this arise.
About fifteen years ago, I was working alone in a youthcentre in a "rough" part of Hong Kong.
I felt some fear when a gang of rough looking teen boys came in one day. Rather than steal from me or beat me up, they told me that I had left my car unlocked and that it was not safe! It was a rust-bucket VW, very old and similar outwardly to yours.
The young men that I had been warned about, turned out to become my friends and protectors, some of which I had the fun of teaching how to drive in that car!
Are you now a resident of Cali? . . . . funny this came across my bow. A friend who actually lives in the south bay relayed a similar story she had last Friday evening in Truckee when her tire had a flat and a Ukrainian came to their aid and just said, "I am Ukrainian. This is what we do. Help others."
I can hardly think of anything more socially cohesive than spontaneously lending a hand, bravo on the ego risk!
The bug is looking good compared to that video from 5 years ago! I'm in the process right now of pulling the m60 V8 from my BMW 740i for a rebuild: threw a rod, so hopefully the block and crank are salvageable. Good time to add some power while its out
It's natural for people to behave this way. Not even the dourest most prune-faced scold of a bureaucrat can drive this instinct from young men.
A while back you wrote about "Work befitting a man". This may have been the first time these boys were taken seriously as men.
I live in Canada. I remember lots of moments like during the winters of my youth in Montreal. Heavy snow would leave drivers stuck all over the place. My friends and I must have helped hundreds of them over the years. It was a kind thing to do and great exercise.
These are the things that make your day. A hat tip to you and the boys.
Where did you get that data about low
trust in the Bay Area? Recent pew data says this about San Francisco:
California: 35% of its residents (about the national average) say most people can be trusted, but San Franciscans are nearly twice as likely as people in Riverside to feel so trustful (46% vs. 24%).
https://www.pewresearch.org/2025/05/08/americans-trust-in-one-another/
I’m a delivery driver and I pulled onto some grass to let a box truck past on a rural dirt road. I got stuck in the mud. A guy in a beat up old Honda minivan stopped and backed his van into mine and shoved me back into the road.
Guys and cars? It doesn't get any better than that for teenage boys. You would have had them there for hours if you had opened up the hood:)