New England winters can be terrible – because of the cold and snow. I was probably 17, running an errand for my parents. The roads were icy and poorly plowed. I came from a store to its small parking lot to find a car stuck in a rut caused by the snow and ice. The driver was an older woman. No matter what she tried, her tires spun ineffectively on the ice. She was going nowhere.
I gently knocked on her window and asked if I could help. The window lowered. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Between sobs she told me she stopped to buy flowers for a sick friend. This friend was in the hospital and was all alone – she had no family in the area. She had been trying to get free for the last half hour, growing increasingly afraid that she would not be rescued and would miss the visiting hours in the hospital. She continued to cry. I took her hand and told her not to worry, that I would help her get on her way. She called me her hero – imagine.
To show her appreciation, she reached into her purse for a wallet and tried to give me some money. I refused but told her she had to do two things for me: first, once we start to get her car moving, she must keep going and not stop until she was back on clear roads. Second, that she had to be her friend’s hero. She promised to do both.
The way to get out of an ice rut is to rock the car back and forth. After four tries, and my pushing at the right moment, the car crested the rut and she was on her way. She waved through her open window and continued cautiously though the bumpy parking lot out onto a cleared street. I watched her drive away and never saw her again.
I think of this often, and other events like it. I didn’t plan on being someone’s hero – I know I just did what we were taught as kids – to always be there for others. Sometimes what seems to be the smallest thing can have an amazing impact on another’s life.
What have you done to be someone’s hero?
Who have you encouraged, stood up for, defended, hugged, applauded or supported?
Whose world have you improved?
When called on to help, do you step up or step away?
Life requires us to be fully present. Sometimes we need help, sometimes we provide help. And in the process we realize we have a responsibility to and in this world. We invent our world in this very moment – and having a profound effect on someone else’s life – to be their hero – is one way we improve life for all of us.
Watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World, due out October 1, 2010. Sign up to be notified when it is available and to be included in our Greatness events, activities and resources at www.TheGreatnessZone.com.
