Highway 27 Hero

On my drive to Buies Creek this morning, I noticed a strange sight as a man had parked his car off of highway 27 and was walking into the road for no apparent reason. And then I saw it. The man had stopped because a turtle was stuck in the median of the road and the driver, fearing for the safety of the turtle, had stopped and risked his own life in making sure the little guy made it across the road. It was one of those moments that make you feel all warm and sweet inside.

Then I started thinking, “how often do I help others like that?” countless times I have seen people stranded on the sides of roads but have never stopped to lend a hand. I have tried, in vain, to save a dying squirrel on the road beside my house. But does the satisfaction you get from helping others in the act or the resolution? For instance, would the man this morning still feel sense of pride in saving that turtle from oncoming cars just to know that it was run over by another car hours later? Would a graduate student still feel like he/she did a great job on their paper even when it is returned to them with a “F” on the cover?

These are all important questions to ask for we cannot know what will happen, or what people will think when we try to help then. We only know that what we are doing at the moment is the right thing to do. The future for them, better of worse, remains uncertain for us all. All we can try to do is the best we can each and every moment, hoping and praying that the future is better than the present for every person and thing we come into contact with.