Here's That Nightly Inspiration You Requested...

No, this is not a chain letter, and you won't get good luck for sending it along to your friends. For those of you who work with kids, this is my way of saluting you. I was walking down to Video Journeys tonight to drop off two tapes about 1 am, and those of you in L.A. know it's about 40 degrees tonight and windy. Two tough-looking Thai kids were hanging out by the 76 at Griffith Park and Hyperion (the evil 76 where they won't let you recycle used motor-oil) and they asked me for a jack. I laughed that I didn't usually carry a jack on me, but then they pointed out their car across the street with a flat tire, and went into this entreaty about how so-and-so lent their jack to some other dude two weeks back, so pathetic I could tell they'd been trying to get a jack for a while. It turned out they'd been there for over an hour, with no one to call, asking people pulling into the 76 for a jack (including the guys in the 76) with no luck. So I dropped off the tapes, went back up the hill, got my car, lent them my jack, shook hands and came home--but not before I had yelled at the guys at the 76--again. The Thai kids, who were about 18, treated me so nice for doing something that anybody should have done, that instead of making me feel good, it made me feel sick. So I suppose what started out as a nice story turns into another plea for help, yeecchh, from me. I hope it makes you want to go out and lend some teenager your jack. I promise they won't club you over the head with it, but if they do, I know two kids that will kick the shit out of them.