Yesterday, Emily and Junior were in a car accident.
Both of them are just fine, I'm happy to reportnot even a little sore. But "The Short Bus" (aka Emily's bright yellow SUV) took a wicked beating. Someone ran a stop sign, hit Emily's front driver's-side quarter panel and that was pretty much the end of the day for it. Time to call the tow truck.
Now, that's not to say Emily wasn't more than a little shaken up by the whole thing. So much so that when I answered the phone back at the office, I was greeted by a male voice.
"Hello, is this Mr. McKay?"
"Yes, that's me. How may I help you?"
"Well, the VERY FIRST thing I want to tell you is that your wife and son are JUST FINE. But there's been an accident, and they need you to come pick them up."
Emily had been too emotional to dial the phone. Thankfully, the guy who had dialed the phone saw the whole thing transpire, rushed to make sure everyone was okay, and made it a point to help in any way he could. Which he most certainly did.
By this time, as you might imagine, my priorities had experienced an immediate adjustment, and off I rushed to the scene.
When I got there, I immediately found Emily and gave her a big hug, of course.
Next, a grandfatherly gentleman of about 70 caught my attention. He was holding my son.
"You must be Dad", he said with a smile.
Handing my boy to me, he said, "There you go, champYour Daddy's here just like we told you."
His wife looked on with utter adoration for her heroic husband.
Just then, when the dust cleared from the realization of how thankful I am for not just the safety of but the
very existence of those closest to me, another gentleman caught my attention.
"You must be Mr. McKay. I just wanted you to know that I'm glad everyone was okay. I saw everything happen, and have given the police my story. Man, I really hate to see stuff like this happen. Can I help you move any of your gear from her truck to yours?"
He had been at the wheel of another car nearby when the accident occurred, but stopped to lend a hand. I thanked him for his help, and took him up on his offer.
Just then, the police Sergeant on the scene approached and thanked me for getting there so quickly. He was a stocky, stereotypically-Texan guy.
"Well, Mr. McKay, obviously any accident is a bit traumatic, so it's great to know Mrs. McKay and your son had someone like you to come fetch them up. Please know that we've all done what we could to keep them comfortable until you got here, and we're busy filling out the reports so you can be on your way as soon as possible."
Shortly thereafter, the tow truck arrived.
The first words out of his mouth were, "Man, is everyone okay?"
Upon reassuring him of such, he responded with, "Well I'm glad to hear it. You've got enough on your plateI'll take care of the truck for you so you can concentrate on your lady and your baby. All I need to know is where you want me to tow the vehicle, and you can consider it done."
And it was.
I gathered Emily and Jr. into my pickup truck, with one more kiss on the forehead for good measure, and took them homedriving with extra care for some odd reason.
Once home, Junior quickly fell asleep for his overdue afternoon nap. Meanwhile, I mixed my beautiful wife a SERIOUS "adult beverage" and drew her a warm bath. Soon she was just as relaxed as the kid.
"Thank you for being in my life", she said. "You were my knight in shining armor today. Then again, you always are. You're amazing. Thank you."
Of course, that series of words is among the sweetest in the English language to any high quality man.
And sure, yesterday was a particularly wild day. And yes, I did the right thing.
But the reason I'm bothering to write you about the whole brouhaha is WAY, WAY more important.
And that's this: Literally EVERY OTHER GUY involved with what happened yesterday afternoon DID THE RIGHT THING, also. And it rocked the house.
Listen, there's a lot of press out there about how men are at BEST wimps who fail to stand up when called upon.
At WORST, men are considered by a small but very vocal minority to be little more than "Neanderthals" who care only about themselves, consider a woman a disposable commodity, and generally make the world a more miserable place.
But I tell you this: If you've read what I've shared with you today and are raising your hand saying, "Wait, manI would have done the SAME THING were I there yesterday", I honestly believe you more accurately represent the NORM than the EXCEPTION.
Most men want to do what's right. And to a man with his head screwed on straight, "what's right" means being a helping hand to ANYONE in need (man, woman OR child), finding solutions to problems, and generally getting the job donewhatever that job may be.
In fact, I think if you were to ask any of the guys who touched yesterday's incident in some way, I think all of them would say they were flat-out GLAD to help.
If you dug a little deeper, you may even get them to admit that it made them feel just a bit MORE like a MAN to be involved.
Certainly Emily was appreciative. But even the glow on the countenance of the older man's wife as he handed my boy over to me safe and sound said it all.
So how about it? Were all these guys "Mr. Nice Guy" yesterday? Absolutely not. They responded to an imminent challenge with compassion and purpose. And that has "real man" written all over it.
Here it is: Being a man is not only a total blast, it's IMPORTANT. And all the REAL WOMEN out there recognize that factintimately.
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