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May 27, 2006
Two_hundred_points_for_stopping
I was riding my bike home from the bike shop last night, shortly before
the rain came, and I saw this man rummaging through some stuff with his
bike leaned up against a low-concrete-divider wall. I almost rode on by
but was compelled to turn around and see if he needed help with his
bike. He didn't. What looked to like a problem with his bike was
really Terry Mack stopped to untangle the cables of his CD-Player
headset. He thanked me and told me I get 200 points for stopping
though. He said that most people would go right by and not care whether
someone needed help or not. Then he told the story about what happened
a few weeks ago to him. He was walking along the sidewalk on West
Seventh and a very drunk man was lying in the middle of the street, face
up, not moving. In all appearances, he looked dead, and in practicality
he was dead to the world and oblivious to where he was. Terry witnessed
car after car drive around the man. One even honked but kept driving.
So Terry went out into the street as fast as he could and found the man
still alive, but reeking of alcohol. Terry shook him and the man kind
of snapped out of it, looked up at Terry and said, "Do you got a
cigarette?"
Somehow Terry got him out of the street so he wouldn't get killed.
What shocked me is that out of a dozen or so people that drove around
the man lying in the middle of the road, not a single person stopped to
render aid. Terry told me, "This is not the world I enrolled in."
And I had to agree. I'm happy to have met a man like Terry Mack. It
reminds me that yes, it's still good to pay attention to those around
us and render aid when we see someone in trouble. This is the world I
enrolled in.
Posted by carl1236 at May 27, 2006 10:42 PM | Love your Neighbor