Sometimes

you can't listen to your first instint response...

Let me tell you a story to explain myself.

Now, I want to put this on record first, I am not telling you this because I want accolades because I certainly don't deserve them based on my knee jerk reaction.

It was -30 something Celsius here today, with a windchill. In a nutshell, COLD. I had some errands to run before I went to an afternoon training session for work. Now, I live in the rough end of town and usually when you see something out of the norm, you aren't really sure how you can or should respond.

So, here it is cold and out of the side of my vision about a half block ahead I see a figure on trying to stand up and people passing it by in their vehicles without pause.  As I got nearer to the figure I see it is an older man with a patch on one eye and a cane in his hand, trying with all his might to get up.

Knee jerk reaction: I am a girl, this is a man. It is cold out. Is this a trick? Does he really need help? A guy needs to stop and help him.

Split second after knee jerk reaction: No one else is stopping; I need to step up an step out.

I pulled over.  Found out who the man was (name, address, what's going on) as I was helping him to his feet. He was on his way to the hospital and so, after getting him to my car and calling my boss to tell him I was "going to be late for our (non-existant) meeting because I was taking so-and-so to the hospital" (Daddy didn't raise no fool; I still made sure that someone else knew who I was with, what he looked like, where we were going...) and I got my poor, new friend to the Emergency room at our hospital, checked in, triaged and made sure the nurses would make arrangements for him to get home.

What makes me sad is that he was out there struggling to get to his feet for an hour in this cold while people passed him by.  What makes me sadder, I was almost one of them... I don't ever want to be anything but the person who will go out of my way to help someone.

Today was a HUGE learning lesson for me, a growing moment that I am SO GLAD I learned from...