I spend a lot of time on the beach. I've been regularly driving on LI East End beaches for over 25 years. Three times a day, every day (that it doesn't snow.) You're right, everyone gets stuck. I've been stuck four times, but I've probably pulled 60 or 70 people off the beach over those 25 years - because what comes around goes around. People always offer money. I always just ask them to pay it forward when they see someone in a similar situation. (I would hope that their conscience would compel them after that.)
I've learned a lot of really cool tricks for getting out of sticky situations - the times that I am on the beach are not times when I am likely to have any help - but it is forethought that keeps me from getting stuck over thousands of times on the beach.
Most recently it was a cold January evening that I came down to the water after dinner to have a cup of coffee. As I crested the access, my headlights lowered and fixed upon a Jeep Cherokee that was clearly buried to the axles. I was still in my work clothes and not mentally prepared for the shift from hot coffee and moonlight to spinning wheels, cold sand flying everywhere and the jarring recoil of the tow strap as I try to pull a ton of dead weight out of deep sand. I continued toward the scene and made out the figures of two teenage girls jumping up and down and waving their arms. As I neared and rolled down the window I heard my name being called. It was a former student of mine and her friend. Presumably she just got her first vehicle and was taking it for a spin. "Spinning" was ALL that it was doing. It wasn't easy, but I was able to get them out - ultimately also having to do the driving myself. I did have fun at their expense when, as I was digging under the wheel I hit something hard, only to discover a camera stand that they had wedged under it in a futile attempt to provide traction.
It was a teachable moment - I snuck a little physics in there as I explained what we would have to do - and I was able to rinforce a message that I have always tried to instill in my kids. Character matters. Empathy matters. And there but for the Grace of God go I.
