Trading Comfort For A Single Breath
If we could count the cost, I wonder how much is someone’s patience and comfort compared to somebody else’s life and breath. The clarity is obvious but taking a look at people’s attitude towards ambulance cars, soldier’s trucks and fire trucks gives us a different answer. It doesn’t seem to fix the odds why many of us seem to forget the value of life these vehicles are carrying. All the flashing lights, the alarming sound and speed speaks urgency. A lot of us seemed to ignore that a minute of delay can mean death of a person, a troop or a family. How much does it take for us to pave the way?
Whenever I can hear an ambulance car approaching, I really can’t help my heart skipping a beat. My mind always reminds me how that sound means another CPR or a pool of blood in the emergency room. It could mean another gun shot or a knife stuck at someone’s throat. It could mean another cardiac arrest or another code blue. It could mean another operation or a baby waiting to finally come out and see the world. It could mean another revival and life. It could mean another heartbreaking scene of death and goodbye. And it left me wondering why it seemed so hard for some vehicle drivers to give these people some light of hope by just pulling over and let an ambulance car have its way.
A soldier’s truck is another thing but the same attitude arises from people whenever it hits the road. I can still remember that one time I visited a place wherein a war is going on in a nearby city. Each day, these soldiers’ trucks pass by with remarkable speed and sound. I will never forget that one morning when I heard some drivers cursing because they were forced to stop and give way for those soldiers. I felt that tingling heat running through my ears and I knew my face was so red back then. And in my mind I was saying, “Why are these people so heartless and so small-minded”? Their speeding up could mean a lot of things I bet those drivers won’t even dare to try for themselves. In just few seconds they can save a comrade from a sniper’s bullet, or a building from being bombed, or a family from being captured, or a troop from being ambushed. The list is long and unimaginable. They can’t afford to risk a single second of delay. War has one of the worst descriptions in the human vocabulary and a soldier’s heart is one of the noblest things I can count in this world. It’s disheartening why our culture has not planted its importance in every citizen’s mind and soul.
I guess all these truths lead us to an understanding that nowadays kindness is the greatest endangered thing. I hope that wherever you are right now, your kindness can still afford to trade your comfort over somebody else’s single breath.
