Dropping Everything, If Only For A Second

Usually, I kick off the summer blogging season with a post about my Top 5 moments from the previous school year. That post will be appearing by the end of the week but since I decided not to write at all until the middle of the summer, I'm not really interested in chronological blogging at this point. What broke me out of my summer slump was a particular experience that happened on the Peoria County roadways today, and as with any moment that gets me thinking, I felt the sudden compulsion to write about it immediately.

I was cruising down a two lane road around sunset hours. My windows were down, and the music was at deafening levels (A Tribe Called Quest, I believe) as I comfortably soaked in the summer evening. Before long the quaint driving was interrupted by faint sirens and flashing lights in the distance. The road was not crowded but there were more than a few motorists out driving and, noting the impending presence of an ambulance, pulled over to the side of the road in a hurried fashion. I unconsciously did the same without a moment's hesitation -- it's an obvious sign of common decency to stay out of the way of an ambulance on duty. Once the ambulance safely and swiftly passed me, I flipped on my turn signal, pulled back onto the road and continued my pleasant summer drive.

As I drove, I couldn't help but be pleased about the event that just transpired. Not the fact that the ambulance was en route to a situation where someone was likely in great distress, but the fact that myself and other motorists stopped everything we were doing in order to make it easier for a group of people to resolve a dire situation that was bigger than all of us. We are almost always hellbent on envisioning how to accomplish things on a daily basis to fit our convenient schedule that rarely do we take the time to assure someone else's convenience. But that's exactly what happens when we encounter an ambulance with sirens blazing. I tried to find an equivalent to this phenomenon in other walks of life and the only comparison I could draw would be national anthems before sporting/important events. The national anthem is usually a formality, though; an expected step in a process to begin a baseball game or a high school assembly. In the case of a speeding ambulance, it is always unexpected and still we act accordingly with the utmost unselfishness.

And it is that feeling of unselfishness that stuck with me for the remainder of my summer drive, inspiring within me hope that even in a society of increasing nonchalance that a group of people can in tandem accomplish something for a greater good, or a good that may not be directly related to them. We'll never know who that ambulance was for, but maybe our selflessness contributed to saving a life tonight. It's enough to make you smile as the summer sun sets, if only for a second.