Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. Can I just say here at the beginning that I am really thankful for those who have listened to and downloaded the podcast? Of course I can. It's my podcast, so I can say what I want, right? In all sincerity, though, I am extremely thankful and grateful to every one of you who have taken the time to listen to the podcast. Even if you've not listened to every single episode that you could listen to, I'm grateful that you've been here for one or two episodes, even. And I would very much appreciate it if you would spread the word. Let people know about the podcast and about the great things that you hear on the podcast. I'm appreciative that you would take the time to listen, and anything that you could do to, as I said, spread the word about the podcast, that would be much appreciated by your humble host. Well, host anyway. Now, I'll be the first to admit there's a lot wrong with the world today. We have crime, poverty, inhumanity, cruelty, and the list goes on. But there's a lot of good in the world too, and that's what I want to talk about in today's episode. You may have to look, but there's a lot of kindness, decency, charity, love, and a willingness to help other people. Even complete strangers. There's a lot of that going on, but you wouldn't know it sometimes based upon what we hear in the media and on the news. It's often very negative. And of course, sensationalism sells, and so that's the thing that all of these news agencies want to do because they need eyeballs, they need ears, whatever. Less than two months ago, I did a road trip on the historic Route 66 in a 1957 Chevy Bel Air, all the way from downtown Chicago to the end of that historic route in Santa Monica, California at the Santa Monica Pier. It was an unforgettable trip. It was truly an adventure, and the car belongs to someone that I've known for many decades, and we made the decision to do this trip a year ago or so, and actually started off the trip with my younger brother and our friend, and it was incredible to say the least. We parted ways with my brother in Oklahoma City because he had work commitments, and then our friend and I made the rest of the trip from there all the way to California. And please understand, there is absolutely no way I can do the trip justice by merely talking about it here on the podcast. We did have some mechanical issues along the way, but in spite of those issues, it was still a really amazing trip to take, and I'd do it all over again if I could. And really, if I'm being honest, of course, and I am, the only real mechanical issue we had was with the fuel line and the fuel system itself. We kept experiencing some vapor lock issues, which caused the car to stall. We installed an electric fuel pump near the fuel filter under the hood, which worked for a while, but ultimately we were able to get the car to a shop in Grants, New Mexico, thanks really to an angel of a man named Jose Garcia. And don't get me wrong, we had some issues all along the way up to Grants, New Mexico. In fact, we spent the better part of a full day sandwiched between Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and Moriarty, New Mexico, really out in the middle of nowhere. And even when we got back on the road, we stalled probably less than a couple of miles from where we had spent the better part of a day, and I think it was on a Sunday, if I recall correctly. So what Justin Hobbs and his uh faithful sidekick, as it were, did was they installed a 516-inch rubber hose all the way from the fuel tank. Actually, the electric fuel pump that we had purchased, Justin installed it by the fuel tank, and then from there hooked the rubber hose to that electric fuel pump, and then all the way to the front of the engine through the fuel filter and so forth. And it worked really, really well. We were there for a few hours, had some lunch, went to an old shop that had been turned into a restaurant, and it had a bunch of car paraphernalia there and whatnot. It was really fun to be there and to see it all. And then at about 5:30 in the evening, we got back on the road. And really, Justin and the employee who helped him, they did a phenomenal job on the car. They raised it up on a lift, and we were ultimately able to see the work that they had done. And my friend was, of course, satisfied with the work that they did do. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that Jose Garcia saw us sitting in an empty lot. We had the hood up. I mean, it's an iconic classic car, so of course he was intrigued by that when he pulled in. But he took the time out of his day to help two complete strangers get the car to a garage. And it was something he didn't have to do, but he did. My friend even offered him some money, and he just said, you know what, give it to the next person, pay it forward. Who does that? That was just such an amazing thing for us to see. And with the work that Justin did, it was a temporary fix to get the car back on the road and then to ultimately get it back to my friend's home, where he could make some permanent fixes to the car, which he has done and done some other things to the car as well since he returned home from our trip. But going back to Jose Garcia and other people like him, we met some really, really nice people from all walks of life and cultures. Naturally, the car was the centerpiece, of course, but people are attracted to classic automobiles, to say the least. And a couple people even offered to buy the car from my friend. Literally, they didn't talk price, but one guy said, I'll buy the car from you right now. If you've never been on the old Route 66, even if you have, there are a lot of small little towns that were iconic to that historic route. And we'd stop at several of them, ate in several of the restaurants along the way. It was really cool to see these old shops and to know that people back in the day stopped there and got a Coke or had a hamburger and some fries or whatever, and just enjoyed conversation. And of course, much of the old route has been replaced by the freeway system. But where we could, we would get off and drive on the old parts of the route just to get as much of the experience as we possibly could. And it was just enjoyable to see that and to see this beautiful country that we live in and the wonderful people along the way. I think that was probably the most favorite part of the trip for me was to be able to meet complete strangers, but when you parted ways, you felt like you were friends. It was really cool. At a lot of the iconic places that we would stop along the way, some of them have sort of been restored. They have the old uh gas pumps out in front, and you know that it was a service station and maybe a little shop that people would go into or get a candy bar or buy Coke, like I said. But a lot of these shops were have been preserved, and we would often park the car right in front, right next to a couple of gas pumps, and then we'd go inside and use the bathroom or do whatever, and we'd come out, and there would be people standing around the car. They would be taking pictures of themselves in front of the car, and we just smiled and we'd get close to the car and we'd open the doors and they'd look at us and they said, Oh, this is your car. And I'd say, Oh, it's my friend's car, and he'd say, Yeah, it's my car. And they were just so surprised. And then we would invite them to come sit in the car if they wanted to, or stand by the car and take additional pictures. And it was just really fun to see the way people reacted. And it's interesting how people in America, and I'm sure it's like this in many other cultures, but like people come together for certain things. And classic cars is, I think, something that definitely brings people together. And it it makes people think about uh a simpler time, perhaps, and uh really the classic cars that came out of the 1950s. It's something that a lot of people are are interested in. And it's it's really cool to to have had that experience and to meet so many people from not only in the country, but we met people from Europe and other places, and it was just really neat to think that people outside the country even know of Route 66, and they come back and do a vacation here in the States, and that's one of the things that they that at least the people that we met who were from outside the country were doing. They were taking a vacation and they were driving down uh parts of old Route 66, and we'd see people at one location, and then, you know, a hundred miles down the road, we'd see them again, and it was kind of like meeting an old friend. It was, I don't know, I can't really explain it. It was just uh it was just a good experience to have. Really, there was something kind of magical about it. I keep using the word iconic, but that really describes it pretty well. And of course, when you're talking about a 1957 Chevy Bel Air, one of the classics, it's something that people look at and they it's a conversation piece. You just don't see cars like that uh very often out on the road, especially driving down a highway these days. A lot of people would honk along the way on the road, uh, they'd wave. Uh it was almost like they were celebrating with us that we were taking this trip and they had no idea what we were even doing. And sitting here talking about this right now, it's bringing back memories. And I, as I said on the outset, I can't justify this amazing trip by just talking about it in this instance. I hope that by my talking about it and that in your mind's eye you can see us driving along the way, meeting new friends, having wonderful experiences, being able to see parts of the country that I hadn't seen before, or at least hadn't taken the time to stop and see and look at and enjoy. That was a great part about the trip as well. And I told my friend that I was definitely going to do a podcast about our trip. And one of the things that we came to the realization of is that there are some really good people in this country, people that we met along the way, all 2,238 miles of the trip or so, however long it is. I think it's about 2,238 miles. And as I said, even people from outside the country uh take that trip, or at least part of it, because they know it's it's a uh a part of history here in the United States. A lot of times we can get caught up in sort of the day-to-day things that were fed by the media, politicians, the entertainment industry, and social media, of course. And much of it is really not good. But I'm here to tell you that there are some really, really good people across the world and in the US. If your faith in that has been lacking, believe me when I tell you, there are a lot of good people that we see on a regular basis. Not even taking an iconic trip like driving down this historic route. But just in our day-to-day interactions with other people, most people are just genuinely nice and they want to do the right thing. They want to be kind, they want to help other people. But as I said, we get fed this diet of negativity. In fact, if we let it, it can consume us. The things that happen on the news, the things we read and see in social media, the way that politicians attack each other and even attack the people who voted for the other politician. These things are not good. They're not healthy. And I get it, I talk about it, and I'm concerned about it, but I think what we need to do most of is we need to focus on the things that are good and that are right about America, the things that we can come together on. Maybe we won't agree on 100% of everything, but there are things that we can agree on. There are things that we can maybe compromise on and have a civil discourse about. Those are the things that seem to be lacking in our society. And I'll tell you right now that this trip on this historic route restored my faith in humanity because it made me realize, you know what, there are some really fantastic people walking around in this country and in fact on this globe. And sometimes it may be difficult to see, and oftentimes we may need to actually look for it because sometimes it's hard to find. The people, the powers that be, they want to bury those things because they don't sell. Niceness doesn't sell. It's not cool to be kind. Well, it is cool to be kind, but the things that we often hear and see, the people that feed those things to us, they want us to have a different experience. They want to shape the narrative. And that's where we have to take a stand and say, you know what? No, I'm gonna push back on this. There are good people around, and I'm not going to let you dictate to me how I'm going to live my life and the way that I'm going to treat people, to be kind to other people, irrespective of the way that they might treat me. In reality, I'm not alone. You can call me naive, but I really don't care. I know that there are millions of people who want to do the right thing by other people, who display acts of kindness on a daily basis, with absolutely no expectation of anything in return. Just because they believe it's the right thing to do. And it is. It is the right thing to do. We need to take time to smile at other people, to say hi to a complete stranger, to do something for someone who's struggling. We can make a difference in the world, particularly within our sphere of influence. We can make a huge impact, and we should. Think about it, it takes just as much effort to be nice, to smile, to be positive, than it does to be negative or to to act as if you were weaned on dill pickles and sauerkraut. I mean you can live your life like that and be miserable, or you can make a conscious decision to say, you know what? Within my own sphere of influence, I can take the time to be nice to people, to open the door for someone, to carry something for someone else, to stop and help somebody out along the road who maybe is broken down. I get it. We live in troubled times, and sometimes people don't always have the best interest at heart, and they mean to do us harm. I get it. But you know what? That's the exception. That's not the rule. The rule is that most people are good and decent and they want to do the right thing, and that should give us pause to say, you know what, I live amongst a bunch of really nice people, and I don't even know most of them. In fact, there's a majority of them that I do not know. But just because I don't know someone doesn't mean that I can't be nice to that person or do something for that person without expecting them to give me anything in return. I mean, it's just being a good person, a a decent person. That doesn't cost a lot for any of us to do that. Well, as I said, this iconic trip that we took was unforgettable for sure. And I'm not even doing it justice, as I said, there are so many things that I could talk about that I haven't. And maybe along the way I will incorporate some of the things that happened to us along the way, or the experiences that we had along the way in other podcasts. As a matter of fact, I had thought about how I could do sort of a live podcast while doing the trip, but I suppose that could have happened, but it didn't. I don't have a YouTube channel, so I don't know. Maybe I should get a YouTube channel so that I can make these recordings and that not only that you can hear uh you know the audio, but also the visual part of it. Uh well, that could be scary. And I say that because, well, you have to know me to understand why I'm saying that. But in any case, who knows? Maybe someday I'll do another trip like that and try to uh by then have it so that it can also be visual. We'll see. In any case, I'd like to end this episode by referring to something from the Bible. It's something that actually Jesus spoke of. We know that he spoke in parables, which were stories that were told to his followers to help them better understand the concepts and the principles that he was teaching. And he was once speaking with a lawyer who was kind of tempting him, saying what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. And Jesus says to him, Well, you know what the law says, and that you should love the Lord with all your heart, and uh that you should love your neighbor as yourself. The lawyer, attempting Jesus, said to him, Well, who is my neighbor? And this is how Jesus taught the lawyer. He said from Scripture, quote, and Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him, and on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him, and whatsoever you need more, when I come again, I will repay. Which now do you think of the three was neighbor to him who fell among thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said unto him, Go and do thou likewise. The thing that makes this story or parable so significant is that it was the story of a Jew and a Samaritan. And if you know anything about the Bible, you know that the Jews and the Samaritans essentially had no dealings with one another. But here was a man who was a Samaritan, saw a man who was a Jew, but in his mind, he wasn't thinking religion or culture. He was simply looking at this situation and saying, I don't know this guy, but he's in trouble. And I'm in a position to help. So I will. I'll do the right thing. And that's what we need to do, ladies and gentlemen. Do the right thing because it is the right thing. And with that, if you can think it, you can plan it. If you can plan it, you can do it.