IlmFeed
A Facebook post by a woman who describes how two Muslim men came to her rescue when her car broke down has gone viral.
Susan Frankel, an 8th grade teacher from San Francisco was heading into the city to meet a friend when her car broke down. As she was waiting for recovery to arrive, a young man knocked on her window and said, “Do you need some help?”.
Initially she said she was OK as the recovery services were on their way but he insisted and ran off to the gas station to bring some gas.
She writes, “A few minutes later, he came running back down the street with a small gas can in his hand. I rolled the window down about half way. He walked around my car, onto the side where angry commuters were rushing around us, and poured a gallon of gas into my car.”
It wasn’t enough so he set off again to the gas station.
“After ten minutes or so, he came running back. He put another gallon of gas in my car and asked if I’d take him back to the gas station. Turns out he and his friend had driven by me, seen me stopped, and his friend was waiting at the gas station while he helped me, a stranger.”
It turned out that it wasn’t because the car was low on fuel but something was wrong with the battery. Susan describes what happened next:
“At that point, he called his friend at the gas station who headed down the street to help us. Another guy who lived nearby came over to help, too. These three men in their 20s pushed my car uphill all the way to the gas station, and it was no easy task. They were really working, switching from face forward pushing to backwards, using their legs for leverage, and back again. All the way to the gas station.
At the gas station, still panting, the first guy who stopped to help went looking for jumper cables”
Susan offered the two good Samaritans $40 dollars to buy themselves dinner but they refused and said:
“No, we’re Muslim, and it’s our duty to help.”
IlmFeed got in touch with Susan and asked her how she felt about the actions of the two men who came to her rescue.
She said, “The vast majority of Muslims are good people…Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have far more in common than differences. We need to question and think critically about the images and rhetoric with which the media bombards us.”
Susan told IlmFeed that said she was genuinely surprised by the actions of the young men:
“I was genuinely surprised by the generosity of these young men every step of the way. It was so kind and unexpected. Then to hear their reason why — it was really, really beautiful. I wanted to share it.”
