Excuse me sir. Can you spare a tire?

Over the past year I have thought how very lucky I am that I had the luxury of changing careers.  Few people get a chance to follow their dreams.  In my case, I had a wife who cared enough to agree to forgo my income from an office job so I could work on my photography business.  Since that time, I am more aware of my surroundings.  I notice much more about everything.  My world has slowed down and I have more time to think about what I see and hear.

Today I noticed a car that was going through a parking lot a bit faster than necessary.  The car was older and not in great shape.  One of the tires was the small emergency spare tire.  These tires are supposed to be used to get to the repair shop and not much more.  At the most they are rated for about 40-50 miles.  That figure is not each time you use it but the total mileage to be driven in its lifetime.  People think of these  emergency tire as a temporary replacement tire.  These tires are not intended to be on a car very long.

It made me think why this replacement tire was on the car?  Did the tire go flat?  Did someone steal their tire?  Who knows?  It came to mind that perhaps the owner did not have the money to get a tire replaced.  I wondered if they were short on money and were forced to just make do.

What if the driver had to make the decision of buying a tire or paying the rent?  Or putting food on the table for their family?  Or paying for medicine?  I imagine more families than we know have to make that kind of decision each day.  I am lucky in that I have never been placed in that position.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to choose.

Hopefully, if I had followed them, they would have led me to a shop where they had dropped of a tire to be repaired.  Sometimes  I was just let my imagination run away with me.  With $3.49 loaves of bread, $3.99 per/lb for ground beef (on sale) and $2.49 for a half-gallon of milk, I can see how people could run out of money just trying to feed their family.

I think the moral of this piece is be thankful for what you have.  You are probably a lot better off than a lot of people you pass on the street.

I welcome you thoughts and comments.

Michael Kaynard is a local photographer who lives in West Ashley.  His photos can be seen at http://kaynardphotography.webs.com.  He can be reached at mkaynard@gmail.com or 843-412-2299.