Seeking out the positive

I’ve seen quite a few sad news and blog stories lately. Death and murder is prevalent on news reports and it’s easy to feel discouraged at the state of human kind. As I read one story yesterday I was tempted to be depressed and angry at people in general but then I remembered an event my husband witnessed not too long ago.

As my husband was walking back to work from his lunch break he came to a busy intersection. He looked to his left and saw a woman in a wheelchair just starting across the intersection. She wasn’t moving very fast and may not have realized what a late start she was getting because at that moment the light turned green. The people in cars at the front of the light could see her and weren’t moving but some cars further back could not. Those few were getting impatient and after a couple honks and no movement, one car swerved out from behind the rear end of the line into the left turn lane intending to go around the stalled lane. The woman was now in front of a taxi cab and continuing to wheel along. In a moment she would be past the Taxi and directly in front of the turn lane. My husband watched in horror knowing she would be hit. In that instant he saw the driver side door of the taxi cab swing wide open, right as the woman emerged in front of the turn lane. The impatient driver screeched to a halt barely avoiding hitting the taxi cab door, and of course the woman he would most likely have killed. Thankfully the impatient driver realized he had just been saved from killing someone and did not look for an altercation. After the woman had passed, all drivers went on their way.

As my husband recounted this event he had witnessed we both marvelled at how quick thinking that taxi driver was. I don’t know if I would have thought to throw my door open to stop that car. Whoever he was, he saved her life. There are still many good people out there.

The media doesn’t often focus on the positive, but we still can. We need too in order to keep our faith in humanity and to keep from becoming calloused ourselves.