Heart Donors

“A man in a wheel chair downed in a cold, snowy December street.”

Heart Donors

The cars in front of me were stopped.  The traffic signal was green.  It was rush hour so cars were backing up rapidly.  Everyone was in a hurry to surge forward, but there was a strange and unexplained patience permeating the whole scene.

I looked at the intersection just in front of me so I could take in the whole picture.  The cars in front of me were empty.  I couldn’t see anyone or any accident holding back the thousands of horsepower chomping at the bit.  But everything was quiet.

I was sitting in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in the city and for some insane moment, traffic wasn’t moving.  There were no horns blasting in an attempt to crash the obstacle in front of me away.  It was an out of character moment for today’s auto racing lifestyle.

After all, this road was built for speed in a never-ending race.  There were five lanes of traffic headed in one direction, East; toward different destinations.  But, all of that was on hold for now.  It was as if someone was waiving a yellow caution flag and every driver could see and obey it.  Yet, I could see no flag or any other sign to cause such a truce.

Then, out of the corner of my left eye I saw some heads pop up over the cars at the edge of the road.  There were four people bobbing up and down with careful concentration.  I observed.  They lifted.  And then, after up righting an unknown man in a motorized wheel chair, they topped his head with a warm winter hat.

With his position corrected and his course reset, he motored across the starting line to which I was attached.  All while the helping hands and legs rushed to their disparate corners of the intersection with smiles gleaming from their faces. 

As soon as the wheeled chair reached the opposite sidewalk I could almost hear several sets of seatbelts click in unison.  The traffic light turned green.  And, we were off!  The race was back on.

But, while it was off, not one horn sounded. No vulgar gestures were exchanged.  Drivers, for one moment in time, remembered that they weren’t just in a race; they were part of the human race.

I drove away toward my meeting while filing this act of generosity and kindness into the library shelves of my heart.  Heart!  I thought.  Wasn’t it amazing to see heart donors in motion?  They stopped the mad race, lifted a man in need and reaffirmed my belief that when we act as if we’re part of the human race we all come out a winner.