Would You Have Stopped?

Turn on the television, and you quickly become depressed.  There is war... there is always war.  There are also natural disasters, murders, robberies, political corruption, name a crime and it is well covered. Humanity exists though.  I wanted to reassure you of this fact in case you have watched too many news stories as of late. Sometimes you have to look closely.  True human kindness abounds all around us.  We have to pay attention; we need to be the ones offering the kindness at times.

Tonight, on the way to meet friends for dinner, I noticed a plumbing service truck pull off the side of the road. Then, the cars going in either direction stopped.  My mind thought "wreck", but then, I noticed the driver of the truck bend down and walk stooped over to the middle of the road.  He was trying to pick up a small daschund that was running around in the middle of the busy road, obviously playing a game of keep away with this man.  After a few minutes with no success, the man got back in his truck and drove away.  He wasn't trying to capture HIS pet; he was trying to save someone else's pet.  How nice, I thought.  Traffic began to creep forward; no one wanted to hit the dog that was now playing on the side of the road for the most part.  Then, another car (not part of the original line) pulled over and the driver began to try to catch the dog.  Traffic stopped in both directions as this man tried to wrangle the pup. No luck, but he did succeed in getting the dog to run into a neighborhood away from the busy road. A third vehicle driven by a lady drove slowly beside the dog with her window down talking to the dog. She must have known where he lived and was leading him back home. Someone's pet is alive tonight because not one or two, but three people stopped along a busy road to make sure this little puppy did not die. How incredible is that?

If I had seen the dog before the first vehicle stopped, I would have thought to myself that I hoped the dog didn't get hit and drove on.  I had plans; I was not going to stop; I was not going to get involved. I would have been wrong.

The Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan tells us that we are to help each other regardless of what is going on. Yet, we seldom do.  How many other things - things much more significant than a dog playing on the side of a busy road - have I overlooked because I didn't want to be involved? I need to open my eyes and slow down.   I need to make a difference, no matter how small...

Would you have stopped??