I was
waiting to cross the traffic light across my hospital building. Just as it
showed “Walk”, the lady hurried past me, almost running. Must be getting late
for a meeting, or morning class, I thought. She walked (ran!) a few steps ahead
of me and turned to enter the same building that I was headed to. As I was
about to climb the stairs of the building from the street, I noticed a patient in
hospital gowns atop the stairs, pushing his own drug infusion stand. He reached
the edge of the stairs and hesitated a moment.
The lady
ahead of me was jumping almost three stairs at a time now. Just when she was
about to reach the top of the stairs, the patient asked her. “Can you grab a
copy of the ‘Toronto Sun’ from the street??”. She stopped. It was obvious he couldn’t
go down the stairs – the IV stand attached to him. Not a moment’s hesitation
before she smiled. “Sure”, she told. About turn, went down the stairs past me,
to the store on the street – got the paper, paid for it and came back and gave
it to the old man. “Have a nice day and get well soon.” – she said – politely refusing
his attempts to pay her back. Finally, he gave up and smiled back.
Into the
hospital, I walked past her (as she was walking much slowly now) and I couldn’t
help but notice she had the most content look on her face now, having achieved
something much more than getting to a meeting on time – a smile.
We all know
about the Iron Man, Superman and all the heroes. Nobody gets to know about
these everyday heroes – the ones that don’t hesitate in making people smile.
But then, you don’t need to know them at all – All you need to, is to be one.
Be an
Everyday Hero.
