On Sunday while I was having my own Father's Day celebration, I thought about my dad a lot. By the time I called to tell him that I loved him, he had already gone to bed. So I wrote the following to show what my dad means to me. About 28 years ago, my dad was a used car salesman. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for theauction . Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it there. One day, I was riding with my dad to Shreveport for the auction when he found ahitchhiker with a backpack. As soon as dad saw him, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name and continued to talk to him about all sorts of things. I can't recall why but he told dad a lot of terrible things that had occurred to him. I sat in the back seat and watched the scene with amazement. I could see that the hitchhiker changed his attitude as he could tell someone who was really listening to him. We drove another forty-five minutes before we had to exit the interstate . We pulled over and dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitchhiker a twenty-dollar bill and then a the-dollar bill. We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I just witnessed. I was always told everyone to never pick up a hitchhiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. I'm sure that it made that poor man's day, probably a month to follow. While reflecting upon that story, I learned a lot about my dad and life. I learned that if you come from a place of service or compassion, you can change people's lives. Just one single kind act can change someone's life. It never occurred to my dad about not stopping to help him. This is the type of person my dad is. Thank you for setting such high standards for me to follow. Dad, I love you. Happy Father's Day! The author and his dad met ahitchhiker   _  .
when they were just warned not to pick up a stranger on their way to Shreveport to sell a car on their way to the west for a trip when their car was running out of gas