I Didn't Want to Look ...

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.