I was driving my seven year old daughter toward my parents’ house for

Thanksgiving when a heavy snowstorm began to blur the highway.

The wind was biting and the road was covered in slush,

making me want to reach the safety of home as quickly as possible.

As I navigated the treacherous conditions,

I spotted a battered silver sedan pulled over on the shoulder with a shredded tire.

An elderly couple stood beside the vehicle in thin coats that offered very little protection against the sub zero temperatures.

Even though dozens of other cars passed them by without stopping,

I felt a quiet sense of duty that I could not ignore.

I decided to pull my SUV over into the snowbank

behind them despite the cold and the potential risk to our holiday schedule.