My husband and I have joined a group of folks that take shifts at an elementary school to watch out for the folks sent by our government to terrorize fourth graders.
As we were talking at our meeting I said we are doing it because it is an important thing we can do, and it is the right thing. I finished with, “And we don’t even have kids!”
The leader looked right at me and said, “Now you do.”
Made me cry again, loved the story, loved the man for the rescue, loved him more for going back for the dog.......like a little bright light in a sea of dangers.
“Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?--TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out.
Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price.”
Thanks, Mary, I needed to read this before I went to sleep. I needed to see beyond the greed and lies.
My husband and I have joined a group of folks that take shifts at an elementary school to watch out for the folks sent by our government to terrorize fourth graders.
As we were talking at our meeting I said we are doing it because it is an important thing we can do, and it is the right thing. I finished with, “And we don’t even have kids!”
The leader looked right at me and said, “Now you do.”
I still tear up thinking about that.
Thank you, Shanley, for the timely reminder of our shared humanity. Let us never lose sight of humanity's capacity for megalopsychia.
Made me cry again, loved the story, loved the man for the rescue, loved him more for going back for the dog.......like a little bright light in a sea of dangers.
Words fail me ... which is the main reason I read your writing. Hope is indeed what it conveys. Thank you.
Our evolved nature is to help others. Fear of not being important is where it breaks down.
“Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?--TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out.
Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price.”
- Robert A. Heinlein