The Slice: Times of need bring out the best of humanity

People are willing to help. You just have to ask.

Earlier this year, my wife needed assistance on a Saturday night. It was late and I was not home.

She saw that a TV was on in a house across the street. So she went to their door.

The young couple was up doing a Netflix marathon. The man instantly, and I mean instantly, came to my wife’s aid. And he stayed with her until he was sure everything was OK.

How do you suppose we will respond if that family across the street ever needs something?

Tell about a time someone you barely knew stepped up to help.

Feedback on Tuesday’s Slice: “My IBM Selectric is long gone,” emailed Donna Krueger, who described herself as a progressive Luddite. “I happily switched over to word processing back when you had to load the paper on the cogs of the printer feed and tear off the periphery of the finished document. I email (obviously) and text and have a Facebook page on which I do more than stalk my college-age daughter’s life. I have a Pinterest page. I use Pandora (although the cool people have moved on to Spotify, I know). I’ve been known to use technology appropriately.

“But I still like my paper paper. I like to see the whole, not just part by part. My computer monitor is not the size of a movie screen and reading the entire paper on online is tedious. But I’ll also admit that I like the feel and look and smell of print books as well.

“Computer and print can coexist peaceably.”

Slice answers: “If my car could talk, it would tell me to spend more money, and more time on it,” wrote Lan Hellie. “That and to peel out more often.”

Sheila Barnes said her car would say “I’m bored … you never take me anywhere.”

“In the 10 years I’ve owned it, I’ve only put on a little over 36,000 miles. I don’t have a daily commute. I rarely take long trips by car. It always has seemed the happiest when I’ve gotten it out on the road for hours of real travel, perhaps day after day. That car was made for getting out and even off-road. I’m sure I’m a huge disappointment to it.”

Today’s Slice question: Who is the most interesting person in Spokane who has never shown up in local media?