The side of the road

Struggling not to lose my hope in humanity, on the way to work one day I saw an elderly man trying desperately to cross a busy street in a wheelchair.  Many in the fairly bustling traffic slowed down to see what was holding up traffic, while others merely sped on by, impervious to the problem there.  I pulled over, parked my car, made my way through the traffic and ultimately pushed him safely across.  He didn't know what to say to me and was clearly embarrassed.  I just smiled at him and told him we all need a little help every once in a while and to have a great day and be safe.

The world is full of hurting people, people who are in need, and those that just need a helping hand or a kind word.  This story was just a little reminder to treat others how you would want to be treated, and that everyone, regardless of circumstance, deserves respect and dignity. 

Did I mention that the above, even though written in first person, was not me?  It's just a story.  I wish I could say with absolute certainty that I could write a story like that one about me, but I'm not so sure.  There's that fine line between thinking good, and actually doing good and sometimes that line unfortunately gets a bit blurry for me because I can all too easily get wrapped up in me too much.

And the sad truth is, there are those in my life who did pull over to the side of the road and helped me "cross the street" when I needed it.  We need only to see how many times Jesus pulled over to the side of the road during His time on earth to realize just how far from the shoulder we really are.

Let's make a pact today to look for those times when we can pull over to the side of the road and do some random act of goodness.  It's a win-win situation.