Giving Back

My friend at work that has invited us over many times needed a ride home last night. She's been extremely thoughtful and generous for months and months, so it was such a nice opportunity to share the generosity. I drove her home, we had a great conversation and we even continued the conversation with her family at her house for awhile. I wish I were even better at predicting or noticising ways to help like that, its something I'm working on for sure. I think the trick is to always be helpful, as opposed to looking-for or waiting-for moments to be helpful.

In a related story, I was doing some Christmas shopping in Guildford today. The sights, sounds and smells of European villages around the holidays are special. The white tents are setup along the edges of the cobblestone streets, the live bands and choirs are performing, the smell of fresh roasted chestnuts in second to none.

As I walked up High Street, I saw a guy go flying over the handlebars of his motorcycle. He started to roll around in the street and I instantly realised that the car behind him had [somewhat gently] hit him. I walked straight into the street along with about 3 or 4 other people. I picked up his groceries and 3 of us worked together to pick up his bike. One guy helped the rider stand up since he didn't seem to have any major injuries. The people in the car were in complete shock so it took them a few minutes to even get out of the car. I didn't think to turn off the bike, nor did I know how to, but one of the other helpers did. I also didn't think to call 999 (the UK equivalent of 911) since we were busy helping him, but I saw two other people pretty clearly calling for help as I looked around. I handed him his groceries after the bike was safely to the side of the street and he was already starting to apologise to the folks in the car. I heard the sirens on their way so hopefully everything has worked out. I sure hope any injuries are minor, it was not a nice thing to see. The instant calm, collective help of the community sure was nice to see though.