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DEL.ICIO.USAfter 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
Comments
By Darwin rules
January 9, 2007 07:01 AM | Link to this
Touching story until “I’ll give the lord credit for this one” was mentioned. The lord had nothing to do with it, it was a kind gesture by a man previously known to him.
By Deborah Lee
January 9, 2007 09:12 AM | Link to this
Yes a kind gesture from a man who will get a nice tax deduction for his business.
By Genny
January 9, 2007 09:37 AM | Link to this
I think it is wonderful for someone to reach out to another person in need. We can’t all afford to replace a vehicle, but there are many things we can do to make life a little easier for anyone in need - a meal given to a family or someone homebound, some toys to children without any, etc. Thank you for sharing such a touching story.
By Karen
January 9, 2007 09:43 AM | Link to this
Thanks for the story Rick. I also thank McCranie for letting the Lord use him. Also,for McCranie not being ashamed of the gospel and giving credit to the Lord.
Some people always have to put a damper on good things. I really don’t think “tax deduction” played a part in this man’s generosity. Only people who don’t know the Lord and have those ulterior motives would say such a thing.
Again, thanks Rick for the story. You are a “GEM” also…
By des
January 9, 2007 09:59 AM | Link to this
@darwinrules and deborah lee: You just can’t stand good things can you. You just have to try and ruin everything.
Thank GOD for people like Mr. Mcranie and the other people who provided this truck. They answered the call.
By Darwin rules
January 9, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this
I love doing good things and I love it when people do the ‘right’ thing which is helping their fellow man kind out. God has nothing to do with it though. Why thank God and not the person helping out? God didn’t help him out, his old friend did. God had nothing to do with it.
By Janet_G
January 9, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this
God had nothing to do with it eh? Wonder who it was that just happened to put Mr. McCranie’s feet on the path into that drycleaning store to bump into a man who he hadn’t seen in decades? Yes, Mr. McCranie took it upon himself to do the right thing. He did that, not God. However, God was the one that made sure he crossed paths with Jarrett at exactly the moment that he needed help from a good person.
Thanks Rick for this story. Personally, I’ve got many, many more (as do a lot of people out there) that just proves over and over how God can use people to make the world a better, more loving place.
By Darwin rules
January 9, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this
Janet, ever heard of ‘circumstance’? things often happen which occur without devine intervention. Why does everything that happens unexpectedly have to be devine intervention? Do you think God is somewhere with a magnifying glass scoping things out? If this were the case explain all the crime, deaths, starving people in this country and others, all the people who need transplants ect.. If this were the case God would have helped each and every single one of them-or had them run into someone from their past to help them out. But, since God does not own a magnifying glass this does not happen. it is NOT devine intervention that made him run into a friend from the past, it was just circumstance. Like winning the lottery, his numbers came up. Sorry to break the news to you but there is no magical man in the sky.
By Karen
January 9, 2007 12:44 PM | Link to this
Darwin rules, everything happens for a reason and a purpose. God has given us all “free will”. That explains some of the evil in the world. Satan is alive wandering to and fro. You are truly entitled to your opinion. My bible tells me that one day “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ is Lord”. I know that there is a GOD. He is not magical, nor does he have a magnifying glass ( does not need one).
My god continue to bless you and your family Darwin. Because, he is so good he pours his blessing out on the “just and the unjust”. So may you continue to enjoy God’s bountiful blessings.
By Darwin rules
January 9, 2007 01:13 PM | Link to this
Karen, thank you for your kind comments. And please, let me tell you how sorry I am you’ve been brain washed. I wish good wishes on everyone also but not because God tells me to, simply because I am human and it’s the right thing to do. It’s also what we, adults, do, act accordingly and maturely. I don’t need a bible to tell me to be a good person. Not everything happens for a reason. I don’t believe in heaven so therefore hell does not exist to me either. I simply am the product of a meeting between an egg and sperm.
By Deborah Lee
January 9, 2007 01:16 PM | Link to this
Janet G,if God was the one that made sure he crossed paths with Jarrett at exactly the moment that he needed help from a good person why didn’t God have someone pick up the plastic dry cleaning bag before Wade walked out of the restroom and cracked his skull?
By Bruce Wilcox
January 9, 2007 03:20 PM | Link to this
I can not afford to give $7,000 gifts, but I never miss the Salvation Army’s Christmas Tree each year. To help those who are down on their luck is what it is all about, that simple.
Turning something as simple as a story about a much needed boost for someone into a religous war ridiculous.
By Janet_G
January 9, 2007 06:12 PM | Link to this
I guess my question is this. If Mr. McCranie believes that the credit for his actions should be given to God, who are we to announce to Mr. McCranie and the rest of the world, that he is wrong? I hear an awful lot of people who are “offended” by religious folks “forcing” their religion down “other people’s throats”. So why is it then not just as offensive to tell someone who believes in God that they are wrong, God doesn’t exist and we are all going to cease to exist when we die?
Also, why is it, that if “you don’t need God to be compassionate”, that across the board, studies show that people of faith give more of their time, money and assistance to their fellow man than non-religious people do?
Sharing God is done from love for your fellow man. Where does throwing someone’s faith back in their face and telling them it is a lie come from? Is that love for your fellow man? Is that tolerance?
Personally, I believe a man’s beliefs show in the way that he treats others. Belittling someone’s faith in God tells you a lot about how much love and compassion that person truly has inside.
By a reader
January 9, 2007 07:37 PM | Link to this
Great story. Nice people do good deeds. Mr. McCranie is one of the nice guys. Applaud him, emulate him, do not lessen his act of kindness by insinuating he did it for the tax write-off.
By Lighten-up
January 10, 2007 12:31 AM | Link to this
The devil y’all say. Give God a little good credit and all hell breaks loose!
By Michael H. Smith
January 10, 2007 12:43 AM | Link to this
The Devil made’em do it, though God probably gave’em a permission slip ;)