Today as I was pulling out of the chiropractor’s office, an older lady, walking rather quickly on the sidewalk, caught my eye. She was clearly talking to me but I didn’t really hear what she was saying. It was something about the bus. As I waved her over, she asked me for a ride because she had just missed her bus, it would be an hour before the next one came, and she was too tired to wait.
I noticed a bit of an old automatic reaction starting — a feeling of being bothered by the request. I decided NOT to choose that autopilot reaction. Shifting quickly out of that and into a feeling of compassion and service, I said, “Sure hop in!” I had no idea where this woman needed to go but she said it was pretty close. Here she was in my car, a kind woman in need of a lift so she could get a nap at her friend’s apartment before having to go back downtown to get in line for the next meal. It turned out she only needed to go about a mile. We wished each other a Happy Valentine’s Day and she was off. It felt really good to have helped a sister out!