Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2007 > January > 08
Monday, January 8, 2007
After a freak accident, a kind gesture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wade Jarrett Jr. believes that good things happen to decent people.
And for him, the new year has started off on a better note than the latter half of 2006.
Christmas was a skimpy celebration in the Jarrett house.
“I didn’t even put up a tree,” said Jarrett of Loganville.
Money had grown tight, thanks in part to a freak accident. Jarrett works at Century Cleaners off Rockbridge Road. In April, he slipped on a dry-cleaning bag while walking out of the restroom.
“I just didn’t see it,” the 48-year-old married father of two told me.
On the way to the floor, his head struck a rail. Jarrett suffered a gash, but thought little of it. He felt fine, well enough to keep working. As the day wore on, though, he had trouble with the names of longtime customers.
A CAT scan revealed that he’d suffered a concussion. He had to take off work for a month or so, and went on medication. Already strapped, loss of a full-time paycheck hit hard.
The family car, a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta, was repossessed. And a 1973 El Camino, Jarrett’s commute car, stayed in the shop more than on the road.
But Jarrett, who eventually returned to work part time, didn’t have to worry about transportation for long. And for that, he can thank Karl McCranie Jr.
McCranie runs a Decatur repair shop that specializes in dry-cleaner equipment. Century Cleaners is a customer. Years ago while in the store, he and Jarrett struck up a conversation.
Turns out they knew each other. Decades ago in Decatur, McCranie’s grandparents lived next door to the Jarretts.
“We’d see each other as little kids,” said McCranie, president of Bellamy Machinery Corp. “I never knew him on a personal level, but I know he’s a hard-working man.”
One fall day McCranie paid a service call to the cleaners after this hard-working man had returned to work.
He learned what had happened to Jarrett, about the accident, the Jetta and the raggedy El Camino.
Two weeks before Christmas Day, McCranie dropped by the cleaners again. He called Jarrett to the parking lot and pointed to a white 2001 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab. He gave Jarrett the keys.
“You know what they say, ‘Good things happen to good people,’” Jarrett said Monday while showing me the $7,000 pickup. “It brought tears to my eyes. It’s clean now, but it was cleaner than this when I got it. I haven’t washed it. He’s supposed to bring me the tag and title this week.”
This story makes me proud of the human race. It’s inspiring, too, and makes me want to step up — volunteer, give back.
McCranie, like so many folk who do good, downplayed his philanthropy. He praised others — the man who bought a set of tires for the truck; the gentleman who replaced the crappy radio with a new one.
“When I told them what I was doing, they didn’t bat an eye,” said McCranie of Buford.
“I don’t think this was me. I’ll give the Lord credit for this one.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875. Or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
