Only 30 minutes

My Friday schedule was absolutely packed, I only had 30 minutes free to try and run out to get something to eat. As I was waiting to turn left into In N Out off a busy street I saw this kid wreck on his bicycle right as he came off the sidewalk into the drive I was waiting to turn into. There was a car in front of me that witnessed this and one car waiting to turn right that had to wait for him to pick himself up, grab his hat and get back on the sidewalk. It was the kind of wreck that makes you cringe in anticipation of what type of damage is going to be done because he went right over the handlebars and appeared he hit his head. Luckily, he bounced right up and seemed to be physically okay but obviously disoriented.

Although he did get right up what amazed and saddened me was that as soon as he was out of the way, both the car in front of me and the car waiting to turn right both went on as if they didn't even see the poor kid bite it. I pulled in and stopped, walked through the landscaped area to the side walk and asked him if he was okay. He insisted he was okay and that his chain broke, I told him how I hated when that happened. He went on to explain how he knew that his bike was a death trap on wheels (keep in mind this was a pedal bike and he was about 15). I asked if he hit his head and he said he had but it wasn't bad at all. I asked if there was anything else he needed and he asked if he could use my cellphone. I got it to the keypad as he wiped his hands on his shirt apologizing that his hands had grease on them from his chain. I told him not to worry about it, that I could clean it later...no big deal. He dialed and the first words out of his mouth were, 'Mom? I just bit it big time on my bike, can you pick me up?"

For some reason that made me so glad I had stopped and it really made me wonder how we convince ourselves that we are too busy to stop for just a few minutes to help each other. Keep this in mind the next time you see someone that could use a hand.