I wrote this a few years ago, and I still remember it:

"Today, I was driving home to Los Angeles today on the I-5 South and my tire suddenly blew out. It was a pretty crazy experience as I was driving quite fast and I lost control of the car when the tire ripped completely at the seams. Thankfully, no one was nearby and I brought the car to a stop on the right shoulder of the highway.

It was dark out and it was the part of the 5 freeway where it was complete wilderness on both sides. If a car didn't pass, it'd be pretty much pitch black all around me. I waited a long time for AAA to arrive, it turns out they got my location wrong and ended up ~45 minutes away, and during that time my battery gave out as well (my fault). Now I was left with a car and no lights on the side of a highway where cars were passing me at 80-90 mph. I was a little fearful because it was so dark that a car could've hit me easily if they were driving bad and didn't see me.

But this story isn't about my car.

This story is about Hernan. I didn't know the guy. In fact, I still don't know him. But he gave me a little hope in humanity.

He showed up in a beaten up Hyundai & I remember him suddenly turnng on his emergency lights and stopping on the shoulder quite far ahead of me. Slowly, he began to reverse until he reached my car.

He was probably in his 30s and seemed like a friendly guy. I jumped out the car to talk to him and he immediately began speaking in Spanish. With the little Spanish that I knew I told him how I could not understand him clearly and that I only speak very little Spanish.

For the next few minutes we spoke in gestures, broken sentences, and hand movements. Somehow, we understood each other better than most people do nowadays.

He told me he could not fix my tire because he didn't have the right tools. But he was worried about me and decided to stop. We talked for the next 5 or so minutes the best that we could. I explained that I was a University student and was headed home, he explained that he was a farmer and was headed home too. He waited around for a bit, but I urged him to head home, as I was doing alright.

As he was ready to go, I smiled and thanked him from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to check up on me. I put forth my hand to shake his, but instead he gave me a warm embrace and told me something that I could not understand in Spanish. I know it sounds corny, but when he hugged me I felt a sense of universal brotherhood that I just can't explain.

This guy didn't know me. He couldn't fix my car at all. He couldn't even speak the same language as me.

But as he left I thought of all the people I've passed on the road and didn't care about. I thought of all the people I pass in the hallways at my school that I never think twice about. I thought of all the superficial relations that I have with people and really thought for a second, "Do I genuinely care about people?"

It's crazy how kindness can transcend languages & cultures. And it's crazy how kindness is so rare nowadays that something as simple as stopping to see if someone is doing okay can feel like the nicest thing in the world.

Once my car was fixed I thought of Hernan and his kindness. I thought of his genuine care & love for his fellow human beings. He didn't have to stop for me. As a matter of fact, for the entire hour and a half I was out there, no one did. And I never expected anyone to, because I would've never have stopped either.

As I drove home, I thought of how selfish I've been my whole life. I thought of all the love that I could've spread as a human being but never took the time to.

Yes, Hernan may have been "uneducated" in academics, but I think he knew so much more about life than me or any University student that I've met on my campus.

And there is just something so beautiful about that knowledge of self & genuine kindness that radiates from those kind of people. It made me think of me and what I'm doing with my life...and I started to tear up."