A little red umbrella that went a long way on a Friday afternoon
This post has nothing to do with PR or with our industry. I was just so struck by this small but enormous gesture of kindness last Friday that it really reminded me about what’s important and what's not.
I was in my usual rush on Friday — this time to make it to my daughter’s graduation ceremony about a 30 minute drive down the road. It was raining. It was pouring. I was late. My daughter was anxious to get there. I hit every red light and they just seemed to be longer and more irritating than ever before. I forgot to fill up the tank and was driving on fumes. You get the picture.
Off to my right I see this woman pushing a senior citizen in a wheelchair quickly down the sidewalk to find some shelter from the torrential rain. All of a sudden the car in front of me hit the brakes, nearly causing me to say something I was going to regret in front of the kids not to mention nearly causing a small accident. A person, a complete and total stranger, had the kindness and the presence of mind to throw a small red umbrella out of their moving car on a very busy street to the woman pushing the wheelchair, giving them both some protection from the rain.
Just when we get so consumed by ourselves and our busy lives, we remember what a simple gesture and an act of such kindness can do. The person driving the car must have seen the two women from some angle while driving 30 mph and in a split second decided to rid themselves of their umbrella to help two other people. That woman, and the one in the wheel chair, will never know who that stranger was but I bet they will never forget that moment. I surely never will.
I drove the rest of my 30 minute journey to my daughter’s graduation in peace and the knowledge that there is a lot of goodness out there, and that life doesn’t always center around what I think is important at the moment. It’s really about everybody else.
Maybe this does have to with PR in some way. Maybe that person was doing a little PR for humankind that day.
Sabrina
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