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Red was walking along a crumbling country street trying to navigate the obstacle course of gravel and broken concrete with his overpriced designer shoes. He walked along the road where, only moments earlier, his car had made an awful noise that sounded like a cross between a light wheezing and a nuclear blast. He stumbled along, his briefcase in one hand and his suitcoat draped over the other. As he made his way towards the gas station that was on the corner just up ahead he marveled at his misfortune. Red noted that if there was a God he surly had taken the day off. He was just about to retract this thought as he caught the tip of a concrete obstruction with his foot and fell, hands flailing wildly, to the ground. The fall itself was not very damaging, yet Red laid there, rolled onto his back suddenly caring nothing for the condition of his "I-make-more-than-you-ergo-I-am-better-than-you" appearance, and laid there in a pool of self pity. "This is just my luck" he said aloud as he sat up and started to get back on his feet. Brushing himself off and gathering his suitcoat and briefcase, he started again towards the gas station. So used to the speed of city life Red instinctively looked back and forth before crossing the street even though not a vehicle had passed since he got out of his car. The entire seen was still, so still that Red could hear the slight creaking of a rocking chair somewhere just out of sight. He crossed the street and came upon a man reading a book on a bench just outside the door of the gas station. Red looked at the simple man, looked at his unkempt hair, his overalls that still had crusted mud on them from the rain that came through this area two days earlier. Red couldn't imagine the tedium of this mans life, sitting there everyday, nothing new. He couldn't imagine what happened to this man that made him have to live a life like this. He tried to imagine himself sitting in that spot day in and day out with no one to talk to and nowhere to go. He almost went mad just thinking about it when he shook the thought saying: "You got a phone? My car broke down just up the road". The man looked up from what he was reading and Red saw on his face the visage of utter joy and contentment. Then something happned.........a snap, a flash, and the world was still. In this timeless moment Red could see all of this mans life. He could see the things the man loved and the things that he used to define a good life. He saw, as if with his own eyes, a world of unimaginable beauty and sincerity, a world full of good people just outside the walls of his life. He saw the mans unflinching devotion to the here and now, where Red only concerned himself with future rewards. The prizes yet to be bestowed; fortunes yet to make; places yet to see; worlds yet to conquer. He saw how the man viewed this "slow, dull" life as a reaffirmation that everything he was looking for in life was present in this very spot.
The moment passed and Red was seeing through his own eyes once again. Suddenly, after all his judgments, after all his self-ritiousness, he could see the wisdom and accomplishments of this seemingly simple man. This gas station attendant that sat contentedly looking up, smiling broadly as he responded to Red's question. "Yes sir, the phones just inside, here I'll show you". The man put his book down, hopped to his feet, and led Red inside to where the phone was clearly visible. Red made his call and the tow truck was on it's way. After hanging up the phone, he exited the gas station. He looked at the man, who had returned to reading his novel, in awe. He started to walk back to his car when he said: "thanks for the help." The man gave no response and Red didn't press. Once he returned to where his car had rolled to a stop, he realized how much his life had changed in that single moment. He saw the superficiality of his own arrogant judgments as he sat weeping out of understanding and gratitude.
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