I have a question about fate, karma, purpose, God or whatever it is that you believe makes people do things. Specifically, the reason each person is on the planet Earth and when can we tell we have achieved our purpose.
I bring this up because I think a man was born, grew to adulthood, started smoking, had trouble sleeping, took a walk in the rain in the middle of the night...and saved a stranger's life.
THE EMERGENCY
A man has called stating a man is down on the sidewalk and has a bruise on his arm.
THE ACTION
Driving through the rain we imagine the usual reason for this kind of call in this kind of weather, a homeless person sleeping in a doorway. The police won't move them since it's not a police issue, so who moves folks around? We do!
Arriving on scene in the rain we see this is no doorstep call, this man is lying on the sidewalk in nothing but shorts and one shoe.
We go into work mode and find his skin cold and muscles rigid, but he is mumbling and breathing quite well.
"I couldn't sleep so I went for a smoke. Then I went for a walk. Is he OK?"
Blood pressure and blood sugar check out. We're taking C-spine precautions since we're not sure what's causing his altered mental status. Rolled over and onto a waiting dry blanket between him and the board I note quite the odor of alcohol.
Into the ambulance with hot packs to the chest and pits, he's wrapped and away they go.
I share this event not because of the oddness of who would be referred to at shift change as the "human popsicle," but because of the odd circumstances that led to strangers meeting in such a way.
What was it that made this man wake in the early hours of the morning and go for a walk in the pouring rain only to find a man who would have been dead by morning?
Anyone?
Comments