How You Can Be Cool

For this example, let’s call that stranger, Steven.

Steven is at a busy intersection in his ’92 Honda Accord, waiting to make a left hand turn.  He sees his opening and presses on the gas only to feel his once trusty engine sputter and die at the worst possible moment.

Steven swears at the top of his lungs, for a moment almost drowning out the crescendo of angry horns from irate drivers all around him.  He slams the car into neutral, opens his driver door, and laboriously tries to push and steer his car to the side of the road.

Suddenly, the car seems light!  Steven turns around and sees you pushing on the back, easily helping to guide the Accord through the intersection and safely off to the curb.  Gratefully, Steven turns back again only to see you give him one of your patented No Need to Thank Me waves as you disappear back into the hustle and bustle of the city.

Steven is left wondering, “Who was that, anyway?  Where did they come from?  Were they some kind of angel?”

The answers to those three questions are:  1) You,  2)  just walking along the sidewalk, and…  3) Yes.

This is not so much a “cool” thing to do as it is a “fun” thing to do.  Cool people do fun things, however, so it counts.

Currently I have a neighbour living downstairs who is a hit-man for the mob, the guy at my local coffee shop is a world famous house DJ and the woman across the street is a member of the Swazi Royal Family now living in exile.

Sadly, I recently discovered that the mob hit-man is actually a Youth and Family Worker at a local elementary school.  This brings up an important rule: under NO circumstances should you allow yourself to find out what these people really do.  Once the illusion is shattered, you can never get it back.