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Days of old.....

Joined
Mar 4, 2019
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Age
55
When I started a computer sales and service business in 1994, I never thought I would retire from it at the ripe old age of 45. I sold that business to a larger sales outlet named Best Buy and ventured into other areas of making money. While I ran the computer sales and service, I also worked full time as a line technician with Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge in Charlotte NC. After leaving the dealership, I had a great offer from Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick hired me to cut up the old race cars for scrap and I moved my way up to becoming an engine builder for several Nascar teams. I met many of the big named drivers and even became good friends with Dale Jr. Later, I decided to retire to my log cabin in the mountains of NC.

Now there were days when I didn't have two pennies to my name. I struggled like many do today. I remember working at the dealership, building transmissions, and a family on vacation came into the dealership with a minivan, with a slipping transmission. It was late on a Friday and I was actually leaving for vacation with my family the next morning. When the service writer quoted the family for the repairs to their van, I saw the father almost cry. The cost was 1700 dollars and they didn't have it. They were on their way home from Florida to Ohio. I am sure this family could have figured a way to find this money and get the needed repairs but I knew I could help them through it. I went to the father and told him I would cancel my vacation so I could stay late and fix their van, for just the cost of parts, which was 360 dollars. The smile and joy I saw in these families' faces was more than enough for me. So I stay late, fix their van, and off they go.

Many years later, while visiting some of my wife's family in Ohio, I get a speeding ticket. I was clocked doing 78 in a 55. Just as I am about to hire a lawyer and hope he can fix this for me, I get a phone call. The man on the other end of the phone asked me if I were the same guy that fixed a van for a family many years ago. The call was from a judge who was looking over his cases for the next day. He told me that the father of that family was his son. He thanked me for my generosity and tossed out my ticket. He also told me that while he had his seat with the courts I wouldn't have to worry about any more tickets.

I am telling you all this story because I feel this is days of old. In today's world, people have become greedy, selfish, and money-hungry. We have started putting the mighty dollar ahead of principals and values. Treat others as you would want to be treated, is dying. Most would rather put an extra 40 bucks in their own wallet, over helping out a fellow drone pilot. I have seen sellers on eBay who price parts for our lovely birds that are near the price of new, sometimes more. Some will even sell parts that are broken and not tell you, leaving you with less money and having to find another part. It is not about making a living to some, its how much money that could add to their account. Money over friendship. Money over family. Money over most everything. Money is made from cotton and wood and it is just a number. Money is temporary, friends can be lifelong.

As with my story above, karma is real. I never expected to get anything from helping that family and as I said the expression on their faces was payment enough. Over time, I had even almost forgotten about it. Then one day, in a time of need for me, it comes back to thank me. We must learn to push away greed and get back to helping one another. If I have more than I need, I try to use the extra to help someone. My dad always said, "I have never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse".
 
When I started a computer sales and service business in 1994, I never thought I would retire from it at the ripe old age of 45. I sold that business to a larger sales outlet named Best Buy and ventured into other areas of making money. While I ran the computer sales and service, I also worked full time as a line technician with Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge in Charlotte NC. After leaving the dealership, I had a great offer from Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick hired me to cut up the old race cars for scrap and I moved my way up to becoming an engine builder for several Nascar teams. I met many of the big named drivers and even became good friends with Dale Jr. Later, I decided to retire to my log cabin in the mountains of NC.

Now there were days when I didn't have two pennies to my name. I struggled like many do today. I remember working at the dealership, building transmissions, and a family on vacation came into the dealership with a minivan, with a slipping transmission. It was late on a Friday and I was actually leaving for vacation with my family the next morning. When the service writer quoted the family for the repairs to their van, I saw the father almost cry. The cost was 1700 dollars and they didn't have it. They were on their way home from Florida to Ohio. I am sure this family could have figured a way to find this money and get the needed repairs but I knew I could help them through it. I went to the father and told him I would cancel my vacation so I could stay late and fix their van, for just the cost of parts, which was 360 dollars. The smile and joy I saw in these families' faces was more than enough for me. So I stay late, fix their van, and off they go.

Many years later, while visiting some of my wife's family in Ohio, I get a speeding ticket. I was clocked doing 78 in a 55. Just as I am about to hire a lawyer and hope he can fix this for me, I get a phone call. The man on the other end of the phone asked me if I were the same guy that fixed a van for a family many years ago. The call was from a judge who was looking over his cases for the next day. He told me that the father of that family was his son. He thanked me for my generosity and tossed out my ticket. He also told me that while he had his seat with the courts I wouldn't have to worry about any more tickets.

I am telling you all this story because I feel this is days of old. In today's world, people have become greedy, selfish, and money-hungry. We have started putting the mighty dollar ahead of principals and values. Treat others as you would want to be treated, is dying. Most would rather put an extra 40 bucks in their own wallet, over helping out a fellow drone pilot. I have seen sellers on eBay who price parts for our lovely birds that are near the price of new, sometimes more. Some will even sell parts that are broken and not tell you, leaving you with less money and having to find another part. It is not about making a living to some, its how much money that could add to their account. Money over friendship. Money over family. Money over most everything. Money is made from cotton and wood and it is just a number. Money is temporary, friends can be lifelong.

As with my story above, karma is real. I never expected to get anything from helping that family and as I said the expression on their faces was payment enough. Over time, I had even almost forgotten about it. Then one day, in a time of need for me, it comes back to thank me. We must learn to push away greed and get back to helping one another. If I have more than I need, I try to use the extra to help someone. My dad always said, "I have never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse".
God bless you.So nice to hear a nice story shared of someones life,one thet was both productive and helpful.Nice to be a part of this forum and know some of the members you see on here everyday.My wife and I both feel fortunatebeing retired now and able to go on living in our little log cabin out here in the woods. Life has not changed much for us as we can both stay busy and live in peace.Have always admired Steve Carr who lives way up in Bessemer about as far away up north as it gets,and vry smart and helpful on this forum. Kudos to him,and others who are so nice and helpful. Our good deeds never go unnoticed. My favorites in life have been some of the returns I never expected. Be safe stay well. Keith C.
 
@cabinfourus,

Enjoyable read, indeed.

I still have hope that one of your assessments is actually incorrect, in a good way. I believe most people do look out for each other.

The difference of opinion may stem from our reliance on how acts of kindness versus acts of greed and selfishness are reported. Seems the latter tends to get the headlines, at least until some hardship or tragedy strikes many people at once.

Kinda like these forum pages, at least back in the early days. Many times we would see comments like “Yuneec products must be terrible, with all the complaining and problems being posted.” We just rarely heard from those who were enjoying the heck out of their gear!

Dirty laundry gets the ink, so to speak.

Keep up the good deeds! That goes for everyone. I always bet on the good ones outlasting the not-so-good.

Jeff
 
Hi Cabinforus,
My Father would say " you will never see a hearse pull up at the Bank on the way to the cemetery ".
And to this day I never have. I have been involved with Rotary for 25 + years and seen lots of greed and it has not helped anybody to my knowledge. Good life story. John Hennessy.
 
Dirty laundry gets the ink, so to speak.
I agree that nothing catches one's attention more than dramatic news.

I feel that a person's location has a lot to do with someone's ability to find kind-hearted people. In other words, if you ask someone for help, who lives in NYC, with finding a good restaurant in NYC, you would get different reaction from someone in a city like Asheville, NC.

Like you, I am still hoping that I am wrong.
 
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Thinking back to grade school,,a loooong time ago.Sitting in a grade 7 class you could look around the room and count maybe 4 or 5 "good old bad boys".Always seem to create some kind of trouble. Some in the class would want to be a part of that group,most would behave in their normal innocent ways and simply stay clear of trouble,for the most part. Years later as we raised our 3 children we began to notice the class had changed considerably. If you looked at all the kids in the room you could maybe find 4 or 5 "truly good kids". The ratio had changed dramatically. Crime has become more frequent and raising the kids you really had to be on the ball.The upside to this was all 3 kids came to us later and said they understood why we had rules,and thanked us. Truly the world has changed. Yes there has always been good and bad ,we must continue our faith and hope for better times. Sincerely Keith C.
 
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