Giveaway Lights -Wish I had one tonight...

[sed6]

I was pulling out of the Wal Mart lot tonight and some guy was in the dark replacing his battery. No flashlight, no light under the hood, not even in a well lit parking spot. I paused briefly to look for a cheap light in my car that I could give the guy but found none. I considered stopping and using my Fenix P2D for about 1/2 a second.

Here at home I have over 100 'giveaway' lights, literally. Back in March I bought 110 of these fantastic lights (at $1 ea.) at Home Depot to give away this Halloween to the kiddos (last year I gave out 70 of those crack and go glowing bracelets).

I thought I had a few of these lights in my car to give away, but no. I do now! I put one in the armrest for quick access and four more in my trunk as backups. It's silly that I intend to give so many away at Halloween but didn't have any handy for a time like this.

But lesson learned. I also learned that I'm kind of an a-hole for not helping the guy out cause I was in a rush. Yeah kind of a fail moment for this flashaholic.

 

[paulr]

Put a spare fauxton or two on your keys. They are a lot better than no light at all.

 

[Kraid]

I was expecting a fauxton! You have some nice giveaways!

 

[Fast LT1]

Damn thats a good deal, does Home Depot still have that deal going on????

 

[whitebear]

For giveaway lights, keep an eye on Harbor Freight ads - they frequently have coupons for free LED lights...

 

[sed6]

I was expecting a fauxton! You have some nice giveaways!

Fauxtons! Why didn't I think of that!

Damn thats a good deal, does Home Depot still have that deal going on????

I don't think they do, I bought them like 6 mos ago.

 

[Imon]

Ah, you sir have just inspired me. Giveaway lights! I would have never been so philanthropic.

There is this academy sports close to where I live that has a bunch of keychain lights on clearance for 80 cents.
I think I'll buy one or two .... or ten

 

[Monocrom]

Don't feel bad. The dude should have had a light on him. If he didn't, he should have been smart enough to walk over to Wal-Mart and buy one.

 

[fyrstormer]

Yeah, he should've been smart enough to go buy one, but most people are so used to nighttime being...well, dark...that they simply don't think to do something about it. Being progressive is of no use to society if you don't help drag other people along with you, or at least give them the chance to be shown the light, pun intended. I'm not big on missionaryism of any sort, but handing the guy a light is well within the bounds of decency.

Reminds me of a recent NPR story about the flooding in Pakistan. There was this one town sitting right in the path of the flood water coming down from the mountains, but it was fine because it had a huge system of canals and levies to divert the water into the fields and away from the town. I was telling my dad about it, and he said if I did some research I'd probably find out there was a Brit behind that project; my grandfather served in India in WW2, and while he was there he found out that there were British colonials all over the place in India (which Pakistan was part of, back then) who settled down in little villages like that and modernized them in ways you'd never expect to see in places like that. "I say, this flood is terrible! We need to do something about it." "Do, sahib? What can you do about a flood?" Well...the answer to that is now a part of history, for one little town anyway, and even though the answer probably came from elsewhere, they still benefited from it. The same can be said of giving someone a flashlight when they need one.

I've given everyone in my immediate family flashlights, and some friends too. I gave one of my friends a Jetbeam E3P for Christmas, and not a month later a tractor-trailer landed in her front yard. The Jetbeam was much brighter than her (then) boyfriend's big honking Maglite. Showed him up good, I did. :devil: The Jetbeam has been in her purse ever since.