transcended.net

Living in the city, even one as “friendly” as SF, can make you cynical. 

This sea of people, it makes it easier to ignore everything around you.  To disengage and simply look away in the face of someone who could use a helping hand.

Some of it is, of course, self-preservation.   There is so much suffering in this world that if our minds didn’t filter some of it, it would be easy to get lost in it.   There is, after all, so little we can do about a lot of the pain we see around us (although, would it really be so bad if we always still tried?). 

But sometimes, there is something we can do.  And sometimes, we need to be reminded that we should be engaged with the world, we should notice when there’s something we can do to help someone else.  Sometimes its not what we can do to change someone’s life, but their day, or even just a moment.

I’m definitely guilty of this.   Patience is not a virtue I was blessed with so I tend to be one of those people who wants to get where I’m going five minutes ago.  This is an excellent trait to have at work, but outside it means I’m not always paying close attention to my surroundings because I’m so focused on myself and where I need to be.  I’m sure I miss opportunities to live what I believe (that the most important thing you can do with your life is help others), probably on a daily basis.

Yesterday something happened that made me pause and remind myself that I’d really like to be one of those people who lends a hand without a second thought.  And that indeed, that should be one of my achievable, lifestyle change new year goals. 

I was in my hometown, waiting at a red light.  The rain was coming down pretty hard.  Across the street in the left turn lane, a car had broken down and a man was trying to push it across the intersection to the gas station on the other side.  The light had just turned green for cars going straight and it was clear that it was going to take him awhile to complete his task, meanwhile he would be blocking four lanes of traffic.  And suddenly, the passenger side door of the truck next to me opened up and a man got out and jogged across the street and helped this stranger quickly push his car through the intersection to the gas station.  Some douche bags actually started honking and tried to go through the intersection while they were still in it but I just sat there, patiently for once (it was admittedly easy since I was half an hour early).  Kind of stunned though, really.  And inspired. 

This man got out of what I assume was a dry truck to go into the pouring rain to help a stranger who obviously needed it.  For no other reason than it was the right thing to do and he knew he could help. 

Yet, how many times have I been in that same situation (not with pushing a car, because I’m more useless than helpful when it comes to physical labor) but chosen to look away because to do otherwise might have been an inconvenience? 

I didn’t think of it until it was much too late, but I wish I had checked to see if there was a phone number on that truck somewhere so I could call that guy’s boss and tell them what an upstanding employee they had.  Instead, I’ll just have to send this story out into the world this way and hope that karma is real, at least for that guy. 

Whoever he is, I hope he knows that yesterday he inspired someone.

The next time there are lost tourists in front of me, rather than sighing in exasperation as I try to maneuver around them on the sidewalk, instead I will ask them if I can help them find something.   No matter how tired I am or how badly I just want to get home.

I’ve also decided to contact the volunteer coordinator for the program I tutored with this past spring and tell her I would like to volunteer again this coming semester.  It’s something I’d been thinking about doing anyway because as big of a pain in the butt as my last kid was, I kind of miss it. 

So, we’ll see how this goes.  I’ll keep ya posted.