It was a simple question, but it hit me. One of my closest friends from college met tragedy face to face last week. It happened so fast, one minute we were 14 hours apart and the next we were in the halls outside the ICU nearing midnight in Albany, NY. Stranger things have happened, but wow. The story is on Facebook under Praying For Graham if you are a facebooker.
However, it was night #2 as she sat in the halls wondering why her brother had to suffer a traumatic brain injury in an accident. It was all very eerie for me, hearing the same diagnosis as my brother had when he was hurt a few years ago. The shock in her face was still unsettled as the events wreaked havoc with her emotions.
However, while we sat there together (the halls felt uncommonly dark) an elderly gentleman needed a seat. Her husband sat next to me and moved our bags off the seat and we all smiled. Nice right? Complacent actually. My friend stood up and looked over at the man..."Do you need a drink of water?" he shook his head and said thank you. "Are you sure?" She continued. "Do you need anything, I would get it for you?"
Though the man didn't take her up on her offer, her ability to think outside of her own circumstances was unbelievable to me. I remember barely hanging on to sanity when it my brother, but in the simplest of fashions, she made sure the elderly man in the halls with us was ok.
The whole idea goes with her brother's song "People Matter" which is out on his CD. Get it, it's good :)
It was a simple question, but to the man in the hall it was gesture of real kindness. For my friend, it spoke volumes about her...she wasn't too wrapped up in her own nightmare to see a need in another human being. I am thinking, I noticed that for a reason.
2 comments:
Such a good reminder... I find myself so caught up in my "problems" that I forget that people right next to me are worse off... What a great example. Thanks for sharing.
that IS a beautiful situation. tragically beautiful
cj
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