A few months ago, a friend of mine witnessed an incredible miracle. He was driving home from work one night on I-95, a massive highway that stretches nearly the length of the east coast. He was taking his usual route when he saw a car veer onto what he thought was an exit until upon reaching the spot, saw the car had actually gone off the highway and was now on its side against a cement barrier. Instinct kicked in as he pulled over and began sprinting toward the car while dialing 911. As he was describing to the 911 operator what he had seen, he said fear was coursing through him at the thought of what he might come upon. He said he reached the car to find that the roof was completely caved in and all the windows were smashed. Glass was everywhere and the car was mangled. He said he thought there was no way the person or people inside could have survived.
That’s when he heard a girl’s voice saying, “Help me.” Still on the phone with the 911 operator, he started searching for the girl. He said he noticed the car had flipped and rolled down the embankment in such a way that it was leaning up against the barrier on two wheels creating a perfect space between the car and the barrier that remained untouched. That’s where he found her, curled up in the fetal position with only a scratch on her foot. He grabbed for her hand and pulled her out. He said it was incredibly surreal because besides being totally shaken up, she was nearly unscathed. He found out she hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt and when the car flipped and the windows broke, she was thrown from the driver’s seat and landed directly in the space between the car and the barrier. The police and fire trucks arrived, took his story and told him that if she had been wearing her seatbelt, she wouldn’t have made it.
When my friend told me this story, my jaw was literally on the floor. As any story like that would, it leaves you in complete disbelief. However, something else he said also stuck out to me. He talked about going home that night in a state of shock wondering if that really just happened, but when the next day came he said it was just an ordinary work day. He said he found it weird and felt unsteady because something huge had happened, but people were going about their days as if everything was ordinary, which in their world, it was. He had witnessed an incredible miracle except he still had to go to work and people were still sitting in traffic honking their horns or standing in line at Starbucks frustrated by how long it was taking to get their double espresso hot mocha with no whip. The reality that the world doesn’t stop for one human being had never been more real.
I think it stuck out to me because everyday something like that could be happening anywhere; a car wreck, a death in the family, a freak accident, or simply a crappy day. Of course, we’re all aware of this. And on an ordinary day, we encounter hundreds of people; strangers yes, but people none the less. People who have friends, families, real lives and feelings. But I wonder, do we actually see those people? In the general populations defense, they couldn’t have known what happened to that girl and my friend and I wouldn’t expect them to. But isn’t that just the point? We don’t know what has happened to the guy or girl standing next to us in line at the supermarket. We don’t know what’s going on in the life of the person we pass by on the street or the barista making our morning cup of joe (except you coffee connoisseurs). I think it can be easy to go through life virtually unaware of the other human beings living and breathing around us, especially if they are “strangers.” I think in the States we’ve almost perfected this and don’t get me wrong, I love our country but we keep to ourselves and our selected friend group, keep our heads down and keep moving.
I’m challenged by this story my friend told me, because I’ve seen that the girl in the car wreck could be the girl standing next to me in line. I’ve seen extraordinary amounts of brokenness throughout the world and seen the power of actually taking time to simply ask someone how they’re doing and what their name is. I’m also challenged because I’ve been the person who walks down the street stuck in her own world only concerned about the place she’s trying to get to. I’ve been the person to sit in a taxi and not say a word to the person driving except, “How much?” and “Thank you.” and unfortunately, I’ve been the person to get frustrated by the homeless man trying to talk to me while I’m enjoying my $5 cup of coffee outside my favorite coffeeshop. These are ugly truths, but how many of us do this? How many of us are sometimes apathetic to the world around us? How many of us only focus on our own problems, our own pain and forget that the people around us suffer too? And how often do we forget we’re not the only ones trying to navigate this beautiful and often crazy thing called life?
There’s a quote from one of my favorite books called, The Five People You Meet in Heaven that says, “Strangers are just family you haven’t met yet.” I love that even though it contradicts the “Stranger Danger” message I’ve always been taught. But while I believe caution always has its place, I wonder, what if we expanded our awareness more to the people around us in a positive way? What if we smiled or said hello to people on the street or started a conversation with the person standing next to us in line. Everyday millions of things happen to millions of people and there’s actually a lot more in this world that connects us rather than separates us. What if we allowed ourselves to be interrupted even for a moment and what if that moment changed someone’s day or even someone’s life? Isn’t that worth it?
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
