Mr. Thomas Weller - Sowing the Seeds of Compassion

For over 40 years, Mr. Thomas Weller has voluntarily patrolled San Diego’s highways in his own rescue vehicle, offering assistance to accident victims and over 6,000 stranded drivers with flat tires, empty gas tanks, busted belts or overheated engines. Widely known as the “San Diego Highwayman,” he doesn’t ask for anything in return but instead, presents a card to the receiver of his unconditional love that says: “Assisting you has been my pleasure. I ask for no payment other than for you to pass on the favor by helping someone in distress that you encounter.”

The mission started when Mr. Weller was 16. On a cold winter night at about 2 a.m., he was driving a car alone in a snowstorm and slid off the highway into a snow bank. After spending hours in the freezing cold, and beginning to give up hope, a man stopped to rescue him. The words from the man, when he asked what he owed for the help, are those that now appear on his card.
During the day, Mr. Weller works just enough to cover his expenses so the remaining time can be spent selflessly helping others. When the weather is really bad, he will surely head out on the highways and back roads looking for folks in trouble. As he says, “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life, that we cannot sincerely help another without helping ourselves.”

Today, Mr. Weller’s mission is accomplished together with the faithful Shela, whom he adopted from a San Diego dog shelter. Mr. Weller describes Shela as his angel and “a person in a fur suit,” for she has often played the role of a guardian angel.

To his joy, the seeds he has sown have been germinating and his garden has been growing. One day he spotted a car stopped on the other side of the highway. By the time he turned around, he found that another car had already pulled up behind it. When he asked the do-gooder why he had stopped to help a stranger, the man said, “Four months earlier, my wife had a blow-out on the freeway, and someone cared enough to help her.” As he looked at Mr. Weller, he continued to say, “By the way, thank you for doing that for my wife.” Mr. Weller’s kindness has surely inspired others, like a ripple effect spreading out goodness to uplift humankind. Local residents talk more about him, and local media have started to report his Good Samaritan deeds.

On October 18, Golden Year 5 (2008), representatives of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association arrived at Mr. Thomas Weller’s residence, the Goose Creek Ranch, in east San Diego, and presented to him, on behalf of Supreme Master Ching Hai, the Shining World Compassion Award in recognition of his outstanding kind-hearted efforts to rescue stranded motorists. Mr. Weller also received a selection of Master’s books, CDs and DVDs, as well as a contribution of US$5,000 from Her to ease his financial burden from the rising gas prices.

Mr. Weller thanked Supreme Master Ching Hai for the Award, and promised to continue his mission and devote his time and life to serving others, to sow the seeds of compassion, and to watch his garden grow.

Receipt from Mr. Thomas Weller for the US$5,000 contributed by Master