Tuesday, April 15, 2008

We're all overdue for a happy story


I know that I have had a sense that I am posting nothing but horrible news here, with all the atrocities (literally and figuratively) that need to be noted. It gets to be too much. So, when my friend Kathy sent this to me in e-mail, I asked if I could share it and she said, Yes.

I noticed a lady in her shiny new pickup truck had rolled to a stop just a few feet away from our parking lot; she was still on Louisiana and blocking traffic. Some guy stopped and talked to her, then moved on. I rounded up one of guys at my office, called somebody else to take care of the phones and he and I went out and started pushing the lady's truck. Our efforts were hampered by the fact that she understood very little English and neither of us spoke Spanish. She couldn't grasp the fact that it had to be in neutral for us to push it.

A guy on the street stopped and jumped out to help. Some other guy, coming into our building ran across the parking lot to help. And finally, my boss, arriving back from an appointment, got on the deal. We pushed her up into the parking lot; she told me she needed water, she thought. I fetched water and an employee arrived to pick up his check who spoke Spanish; he went out with her, got water into the pickup and she drove away.

Now THAT is community in action!
Let's all remember that people usually want to be helpful and that we have opportunities to build a web of compassion and kindness every day.
--the BB

2 comments:

The Cunning Runt said...

This is SO worth sharing - thank you for the bright moment in these dark days!

It's not all that hard to pitch in - one just needs to recognize the need and rise to it.

Fran said...

Praise be to God for people with open minds and hearts who share instead of ignore.

I love what CR said above... recognize need and rise to it.

Amen, amen.