Saturday, February 29, 2020

Breaking for Others

The Mystery within...

I am hoping this post is the beginning of my return to a more regular schedule of reflection and writing about the important things in life that find me. Surgeries, two weeks apart in January, on some troublesome veins in each of my legs have slowed me down. Recovery is progressing. I am reminded patience is a virtue.

Walking is the recommended activity to aid my recovery, which I gratefully do everyday outside with my sweet boy, yellow lab, Oliver. We are currently restricted to sidewalk leash walks. We both miss our trek across the bridge spanning the river to the welcoming woods on the other side. The anticipation of our eventual return sustains me for now. 

We walked to the post office the other day, a departure from our now usual route around the quiet neighborhood that also includes a stretch of bike trail. I knew walking to the post office would be easier than the return because the cold, strong north wind at our back would be very unpleasant to face walking home. I was thrilled we caught a brief break in traffic at the busy highway we had to cross that runs through town and pushed on to mail the phone bill.   

The cold wind was worse than I imagined on the return, and at the highway, when traffic to my right had a brief break, traffic to my left was a steady stream of cars, and then it was vice a versa. I felt a little panicky with the icy buffeting wind in my face and the rush of people driving bye. And then there was a break in the traffic to my left, but I could not move fast enough to beat the cars coming from the right until miraculously the lead driver of a long stream of cars stopped and waved me on to cross. My heart leapt with gratitude. Oliver and I hurried across the road as I waved a sincere thank you to the kind driver.

The rest of the way home the kindness of that driver warmed and informed me. I thought how often it is we rush through life not seeing others who need a break, or we are just too busy to care. There are so many critical issues of social justice at stake in our world, our country, and our local communities that beg us to stop and reflect on others needs, and give them a brake. Ultimately we are better off when we are all better off.

What if we all braked for others more often?