Running Towards The Fire
Yesterday, I was driving here in Dallas on the 635 Texpress, from my home out to the Eden Green facilities. Relatively new, the Texpress is quickly becoming known for being the Dallas version of the Autobahn. Indeed, I saw a car speed past me, tailgate a semi truck, and then cut off a car while changing lanes. But what was *merely* dangerous driving turned into a pretty gnarly wreck, which unfolded right before me.
My fellow commuters and I came to a split second decision — what was our role in the situation? Stop and jump into the fray, or drive past and trust that others had a handle on it? Fortunately, the better tendencies (and training) instinctively kicked in.
A couple of other individuals and I all stopped on the side, identified some fire extinguishers, and rushed to the car, now with flames coming out of the engine. While one guy addressed the fire, a couple of us proceeded to get the poor woman out of the car, and two others hopped out to redirect traffic until the fire trucks arrived. We had to break some glass and pull her out by her legs, but besides some cuts and bruises, she was miraculously unharmed. After helping the woman get distance from the car, a couple of us took time to comfort her and pray with her before handing her off to the firefighters.
You can see in the video (on my LinkedIn), there were a whole bunch of onlookers and passers-by who kept on driving. But I would rather focus on honoring and recognizing those fellow strangers who stopped and ran to the scene of the accident. Those guys, who Sabrina (the unfortunate driver of the car) had never seen before and will probably never see again, course-corrected her entire future, for the better, simply by acting on their better instincts.
In life, we hopefully never (or rarely) have to be in the situation, but there are two people in this world: those who run from the fire, and those who run to it.
Train yourself to run to the fire.
