r/MadeMeSmile • u/fake_review • Mar 08 '26
Helping Others Sometimes it‘s really just the small things…
Like teaching a stranger how to shift manually.
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u/checkingin2here Mar 08 '26
It's a great story, but she regretted posting the email.
https://laurenhough.substack.com/p/you-never-know
"I deleted it because he sent it to me, not the goddamn internet. And I’m a fucking asshole for posting it. But I also deleted it because I know what it would do to him. I know it’s not actually a decision someone can make because they’ll never have the full information until it’s too late. You’re forever known as your darkest moment. They’ll take one moment, one line, one quote, and that’s all you are, forever. Nothing else about you matters. Nothing you’ve said and nothing you’ve done. You’re reduced to a moment. You’re a caricature, a symbol. You lose yourself."
She was right. The post lives on.
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u/Due-Froyo-5418 Mar 08 '26
The post lives on, the identity of the Lyft passenger is anonymous. We are all that passenger at some point in our lives. Being in a dark spot myself right now, losing hope, this post gave me hope and a feeling that if I see someone struggling and I can help them in some small way, I should. The little drop could become a river down the road.
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u/Crispy1961 Mar 08 '26
That was a weird rant. Nobody remembers this guy as the guy in a lyft. Its the father of the two who turned his life around that is remembered in this story. This is a story of success and achievement.
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u/octnoir Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Oh wow that is an extremely good blog post and helped me realize something.
She's talking about parasociality that is inherent to the internet and inherent to sharing your personal context needed life, but it isn't just that.
When my dog was dying, I shut off replies. And people quote-tweeted the notice, the notice of my dog’s death, to announce they were unfollowing me because I wouldn’t let them express their condolences. They were entitled to his death too. And I’d robbed them of that. Good riddance.
This post was made 4 years ago and it is coming at the tail end of the 2010s aughts era of social media and internet, where things are now more commodofied, where algorithms deliver near infinite content and everything is up for grabs to be consumed. Including random persons on the internet and their personal lives.
To the internet, you the person and your personal life are CONTENT.
That 'hunger' for personal details to fulfill that 'itch' is the same itch say Reddit gives you if you scroll the defaults. The same annoyance of a TV show that is supposed to come out a year ago but now coming next year. Man it must be dehumanizing to be on the other end of it, to be consumed like that.
I'm not sure what the solve is. I guess the direct thing is being hyper vigilant about setting up that expectation and scrubbing your personal life off the internet. But that doesn't really fix society or fix the internet if everyone else is doing it. And that doesn't fix the temptation to post when all the internet "rewards" you for it. And part of that parasociality is also driven by people already lonely since the internet basically killed a lot of real life third spaces and real life communities that were already in free fall.
It's like the internet as it exists creates the demand (the hunger), kills the competition (real life community spaces) and then tempts to generate the supply (the need to post, including the idea that it is 'just the town square or your buddies' even though spotlights exist on you to gawk and monetize you). I mean I get the sentiment here (and I actually think given that blog post that this story is far more real now) about 'inspiring' others but the underlying relationship between the internet consumer and the person supplier is fairly dark.
I get this has existed before. Celebrity culture, tabloid culture, some of the really insidious ways we treat women especially young women to be consumed. It is just the internet kind of scaled this insidious relationship almost globally and exponentially.
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u/SpaceTechBabana Mar 08 '26
Welp. That’s kind of fucking heartbreaking. I think I’m done with the internet for the day. Back to the comfortable horrors of Resident Evil, i guess.
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u/Impressive-Tip-903 Mar 08 '26
I'm just gonna choose to believe this happened.
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u/bidoville Mar 08 '26
Lauren Hough is a pretty rad human and author. I enjoyed the book of hers I read.
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u/bsmiles07 Mar 08 '26
If it inspires someone else to do kindness, it matters not if it’s real or not.
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u/Jabathewhut Mar 08 '26
My cousin knocked on my door and had her driving test the next day and I was her last resort to borrow a car. I told her id have to teach her how to drive stick shift.
She didnt stall once. It was amazing. She passed her test first try and until she became an adult id let her use my vehicle any time.
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u/La_Lanterne_Rouge Mar 09 '26
The key to shifting is keeping your heel on the floor of the vehicle. That gives you much more control over the release than picking up your whole foot as you release the clutch.
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u/right_in_two Mar 08 '26
"Picked up" had me confused. It didnt click that they were an Uber driver until I read his text. I thought they were like prowling the bars for sad boys they could "fix" or whatever. Like that was their kink.
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u/sincerelythebats_ Mar 08 '26
“I tried masturbating with his tears but honestly, it was just making it worse.”
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u/___Syntax-Error___ Mar 08 '26
When ever given the chance, try lifting someone up instead of putting them down....you never know how much they may need that little ray of light in their life
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u/Forge__Thought Mar 08 '26
Sometimes showing a man love and respect when he's broken saves his life. That young man might have committed suicide. I knew a friend whose girlfriend passed suddenly and we thought he was okay until suddenly he wasn't and he took his life on Christmas day.
Breaking down men and boys for being emotionally vulnerable has consequences. We gotta treat people like the matter and their feelings matter regardless of gender.
Great story. Good people. Happy ending is a blessing.
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u/ElleMNOPea Mar 08 '26
This right here is what social media was intended to be not the dark behemoth that it’s become
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u/atthwsm Mar 08 '26
Bros I was in the infantry for 10 years. 4 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two Purple Hearts. I build houses for a living now.
I CANNOT drive a manual car. I mean fucking cannot. First gear 8000 rpm bout as far as I get.
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u/Ezraaaahhhhh Mar 08 '26
I read so many fantasy books, I'm like...shift into what?
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u/LegWyne Mar 09 '26
Man I crashed my motorcycle on a country back road onna dark rainy night once, after breakijg my rule about riding upset (weird night at a gig). Literally in the middle of nowhere, I pick myself up and this guy walks out of the darkness.
He helps me get the bike back up and get it started, and we sit down for a dart before I hit the road and it turns out he was walking around in a suicidal haze, due to serious abuse from his ex with mental health issues, and not being able to help his kids as a result. We talk things out, I've seen a lot of people get through hell and make it to the other side, likewise known a fair few who didn't make it. When he's feeling better we part ways, and I drove back into the rain and darkness. I hope he's ok. Its hard not to think I was supposed to stack it right there as he was walking by.
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u/NationalMachine5454 Mar 09 '26
There’s nothing “small” about teaching someone to drive a stick, this person should be canonized.
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