Tire Repair Lesson

For the past few days, my tire light had been on. My mind immediately went to: But I just bought four new tires! I imagined calling Kia, bringing the car back, waiting for hours, and perhaps discovering another expensive problem.

Instead, I followed a simpler instinct and stopped by a small tire repair shop.

Within minutes, a group of young men in a tiny, dim workshop gathered around my tire. They checked it, found the problem, and ten minutes later, a young mechanic came out with the answer: a faulty valve—not the tire.

The cost? $15.

I drove away feeling strangely grateful.

Grateful for these young men doing skilled, practical work with their hands. Grateful that they knew how to solve something I had absolutely no idea how to fix. Grateful that what my mind had turned into a potentially expensive ordeal was, in reality, a small problem with a simple solution. There is something beautiful about recognizing the people who quietly make our lives easier.

Sometimes a $15 tire repair is also a little lesson in trust: Don’t let the mind create a $700 problem before life has shown you what it really is.