Our Little Town

My eldest and I were walking into Safeway to do a little grocery shopping this weekend. A woman close to my age was walking behind us and stepped into a hole crashing on her side onto the blacktop. By the time we had turned around two men had reached her and another was on his way. They helped her sit up when she was able, and when she was ready they helped her to her feet and supported her while she checked out her ability to walk. They were offering to take her to ER but she declined and drove away. It made me tear up a little.

It happens all the time here. Last summer I was driving by when I saw an older man sitting on the grass just tumble over. I parked and several others did too. There was some concern that he may have been drunk but it deterred no one from getting help. We checked to see if he was breathing, he was, and someone had already called the Medics who pulled up within five minutes and began treating him. Everyone was gentle and concerned. Last winter my son had a flat in the snow, people helped him change it, and get him out of the snow and saw him on his way. The stocking of the distressed food banks here is a highly visible community effort even as we watch shops, restaurants, and businesses here close. And, unlike my former urban home, people here on both sides of the road pull over and wait when the police or the fire department sirens sound.

Things are so tough in our nation these days that these acts of kindness really squeeze my heart and that's what makes me a little weepy when I see and hear these things that people do for each other.