What Happened To Love Thy Neighbor?

Some friends of ours "L" & "K" had 2 extra tickets to yesterdays play-off game between the Minnesota Vikings and The Philladelphia Eagles. These friends know that Jay and Austin are as big of Vikings fans as they are, so they offered them the tickets, as well as to ride with them.

We had an ice storm come through the night before and even when they all left yesterday morning, they were urging people to stay off the roads.

BUT THIS IS FOOTBALL PEOPLE!

So off they went. I made Jay promise me that he'd call when they arrived safely. Even though I knew it'd take them longer than the normal 3 hr drive, when it was coming up on 5 hrs and I still hadn't heard anything I got nervous. Finally he called and said they were just getting to Minneapolis.

He explained that the roads hadn't been that bad over all, but there were spots that were bad. What took them so long was that right in front of them a van fish-tailed and spun, then went into the center ditch, rolled onto it's roof, slid on it's roof, and then landed with the drivers side door facing down.

L immediately pulled over and he and Jay ran over to see if the people inside were ok. Jay said later that he was actually really nervous to look inside, since you had no clue if the people had been belted or if they were dead or alive.

Inside was a mother and her two young children (girl around age 5, and a boy around age 7). Jay and L got the passenger door opened and climbed inside to help get everyone unhooked. Jay said the little girl was crying, but appeared to be ok - just very scared. Once she was unhooked he said that she grabbed ahold of him tightly and wouldn't let go. He carried her over to the van they were in and she sat in there with K and Austin. The boys belt was stuck, but finally they got him unhooked. Jay said he nodded when they asked if he was ok, but never said a word the entire time. After getting him to the other van, they went back to help the mother finish up. She was looking for her cell phone to call her husband and she was looking for her purse. Jay said that she broke down and cried and cried. As he said "I'm sure she was scared, but also grateful that she and her children were safe." They got her things and got her out and over to the van too, where they all waited until the police showed up. The mother kept saying "Thank God you stopped to help. I don't know what I'd have done."

After the police arrived, they continued on their way to the game and were discussing what had just happened. What struck them the most was that in the entire 30 min or so they were there helping her and her children, and waiting for police, many people going by saw them carrying children and some of their things (coats, etc) from the vehicle on it's side to theirs. But,

not one single person stopped to help or see if they needed help.

Not one.

If it weren't for Jay and L that poor woman would have been frantically searching for her phone and trying to help her children...all by herself. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be?

L even commented that he was suprised that people didn't even seem to care. After he got the boy in their van and waited to go back across to the other van, a semi went flying by and sprayed him with ice and slush. He never even slowed down.

Is this what our world has come to? Are we so self-absorbed and self-centered that we don't care about helping our fellow man?

Jay said to me later that neither he nor L gave a second thought to stopping to help. He said "We didn't discuss whether we should help or not. He pulled over, and we both jumped out. How could we live with ourselves if we didn't try to help?" He also said that as they drove on they came upon another bad accident with large sheets blocking the view and there were policemen and rescue workers there. Jay said that they all wondered if those people who obviously died there had anyone stop to help them.

Love thy neighbor people. Love thy neighbor.