

Discover more from The Remarkable Fools Letter
Back in school Dick drove us everywhere. Dick drove a baby shit brown Tercel whose battery did not last.
With Dick we learned a few things.
First. The next best way to attract a crowd of men after digging a large hole? Push a car up a hill. Dicks’ Tercel was a standard. We always had to jump start it. We regularly would gather together a crowd of people to help us get it started.
It got to the point where just one of would start pushing and the rest would join in. It was a great way to leave a party. It was a lot of fun then. We felt reckless, spirited and unshackled by the alterior motives of our alternators functionality. (no this isn’t a good joke but it sounded great in my head)
Currently, my car needs a new battery. I screwed up jump starting it the other day and ran out of hill. What’s a guy to do, get a boost from some ‘automatic transmission’ driver?
Not this dude.
This dude (me) started pushing his car back up the hill.
It could have been a problem. The car was heavy and the hill, steep.
It didn’t take long before there were four men helping me.
I have no idea how they found me there.
It may have been magic
It’s like the ghost of the car screamed out to them, compelling them to all look out of their windows at the same time.
Once you see a dude pushing a car, if you’re not in a car driving somewhere, or doing heart surgery or something, you absolutely must stop doing whatever it is you’re doing to go and push the car.
Why?
Because cars are big and heavy and hills are steep.
Having a broken car sucks.
Pushing a car up a hill takes effort.
Pushing a car up a hill is bad ass.
If you see someone pushing a car, join in.
No need to ask permission. People are typically happy you’re there.
You’ll be happy you’re there.
Pushing a car up a hill feels like a real accomplishment.
Even better?
Pushing an old car up a hill makes me feel young.
I looked in my rearview. There were four men with well over two hundred years of combined age. They were pushing my car up a hill.
They were all grinning from ear to ear.
The second thing I learned from Dick?
Park as high up on the hill as possible.
That way if you screw up your jumpstart, you have a couple more chances before running out of road.
Because eventually?
Dudes get tired of pushing your damn shit box back up that hill.
What’s the hill you need to get to the top of in order to jump start your next big move?
Who do you need to help push the car there?
How much space do you need to get things going?
Do you have an old buddy named Dick?
Unveiling the Mystique of Men, Hills, and Broken Cars
My most memorable pushing of a car was traveling alone, but with my new infant in the back seat. Post-partum pushing on a flat stretch into a gas station across two lanes of traffic.
A man appeared from a car also lined up in traffic, helped and disappeared back to his car as soon as we were safely off the road. I strained my back in ways that reinforced the lower back trauma from a problematic delivery.
It was one man, a straight away and a fearful mom. It was enough. The help appeared and left once it was no longer needed. This miracle of help as and when needed, often in the form of strangers exerting effort as a group, is one that gives me hope for humanity.