Grateful and thankful

This morning I decided to head out to work a little early. I had a number of things I wanted to get done, and I also thought I could get some gas in the car. Little did I know that fate was playing her hand this morning.

As I headed out and made it less than a mile from home, I was shown how grateful, blessed, fortunate I am. I have eyes that I can see with, ears that I can hear with, a heart that beats and feels, and a desire to help others, especially when they are in danger.

You must be wondering how less than a mile into a trip all of this self realization can occur. The answer, a blind man walking across a busy, four lane street, not at an intersection.

This man was older, and he was alone. The car in front of me stopped before I even saw the man. We were in the left lane headed west so many cars just kept going around me and the other car in the right lane going around the man. Once I saw the man I didn't know what to do. He seemed to be yelling...no, he was yelling "HELLO?" The car in front of me yelled from her window, "You can cross, we stopped". The old man just stayed in the middle of our lane yelling "HELLO?" One woman on the sidewalk watched and had the same quizzical look on her face as I must have had. That was it, this man needed help.

I jumped out of my car and went up to the man (my car is still in the left hand lane of a busy street). I went up to the man to let him know it was safe to cross. "HELLO?" now I was worried that I had gotten myself into a bigger situation than I knew. "WHERE IS IT?"

"Where is what sir?" I replied, not knowing what to do besides try to help him cross the street.
"I NEED THE MARKET, WHERE IS THE MARKET? I NEED TO GO WEST!"
"Sir, you're in the middle of the street, let me get you to the median at least"
"NO I NEED TO GO"
"Sir, I don't know what to do"
"TAKE MY ARM"
"I'm sorry?"
"TAKE MY ARM!"

I understood he did want my help, so I took his arm and we headed back to the sidewalk. The woman who was on the sidewalk helped me get him safely out of the street. The car that was in front of my sped away, leaving my car just there in the middle of the street. It didn't matter, that was just a thing, not a person, and people could see the car was there.

"Sir we are at the sidewalk"
"I CAN'T USE MY LEGS"
"Ok sir, but we need to get you out of the street."
"I CAN'T USE MY LEGS!"

He pulled away from me and started walking west. Luckily, the woman on the sidewalk was there to help me guide him away from the street. She was able to figure out what market he wanted to go to and we slowly turned him around. I asked her if she was ok to handle him and she confirmed she was.

I went back to my car and jumped in and in an instant, I realized how lucky, fortunate, grateful, blessed, and 50 million other positive words I am. I have the ability to see things, and not only to see but to hear and speak and feel. I have the strength to see that someone needs help and I do my best to help.

There are so many things that we complain about in this world. I try to stay positive all the time but I whine quite a bit. It takes a moment like this sometimes to smack me upside the head and remind me how great I have it. I love and care and was able to help someone, I didn't just pass them by. Yes I helped him, but he and the woman on the sidewalk helped me so much more. Compassion, there are still people who care and will help a stranger...and there are strangers that help us more than we knew we needed helping.