I almost didn't.
I went to a morning swim practice
Monday at the Riviera Club, then took
the bus home. While headed west on 10th Street,
I saw two young women standing in the middle of
the street. As traffic passed on both sides
of the women, I wondered, "What the hell?"
because the street is narrow.
"What the HELL were they doing there?"
The bus slowed down and,
just before it reached where the women
were standing, the bus driver screamed,
braking to an immediate halt.
She unbuckled and leaped from her seat,
and was quickly on her phone to call for help.
An oncoming driver had hit one of the women.
I couldn't bring myself to look ... I don't have
the emergency skills to assist an injured person.
But when I finally looked ...
the driver of the truck had come to a stop
on the sidewalk and was out to check on the person
he'd hit. Other cars had stopped, the drivers had
gotten out to assist the victim and to
direct traffic around the scene. One of the bus
passengers was a practical nurse on her
way home from work. She pulled an
extra pair of surgical gloves from her pocket,
putting them on as she went to help.
On of the passers-by was an EMT who also
stayed on the scene.
It seems that anyone who had a phone
had called 9-1-1.
I see hatred and prejudice every day reflected
in the posts on FB and other on-line outlets.
But I didn't see it there, in the middle of the street
on Monday afternoon. All I saw was people,
black and white, working to help someone who'd
been injured. She was crying, scared, and hurt,
but she wasn't alone.
Strangers had stopped to help.
I was reminded that I need to 1) take first aid classes;
2) people are generally decent and will do the right
thing; 3) never stand in the middle of the road
to wait for traffic to pass, and 4) no one, except for
the POTUS or his equivalent, or a doctor, needs to be on
their cell phone while driving.
