This short story was shared by a man who is always reaching out to help others: This past Thursday night, I had one of those moving experiences... you know, those that really shake your core. I had picked up a friend at the local commuter rail station and as we exited on a dark side road, the car in front of us stopped and then went around something in the road. As I pulled up, I could see that a very badly injured cat lying in the road struggling for life. I pulled my car over and got out as a very scruffy elderly man approached. Assuming he may have hit the cat, I asked if he saw what happened. The man began to tear up and in a loud cry ask how anyone could hit an animal and drive off; it was clear he did not hit the cat. We moved the cat to the sidewalk and I could see by the severity of the internal injuries that the cat was not going to make it. As I talked to the man, I discovered that he was likely homeless and had spotted the stray and hoped to feed her, as she had neared him she became spooked and ran back into the street and was struck by a car. The man then did something so empathetic and kind, he got down on the sidewalk and sobbing began to stroke and console the bloodied cat as she struggled softly in a battle she could not win. In a matter of a couple of minutes the cat was gone, the man was still sobbing and I was not sure what would be the best thing to do. I suggested that the three of us; myself, my friend and this stranger give kitty a proper burial. While my friend and the man stayed with the cat, I went home and grabbed a few shovels, we found a nice spot on the grounds of the train station and buried the cat. The stranger began to thank us over and over for stopping, for being supportive and for helping bury his new, but now lost friend. As I left, I wondered how many times I might have looked at the appearance of this scruffy looking man and not seen the beauty and kindness that lay within him. How often do we judge a book by the cover versus what is inside? This event has driven home for me the importance of not judging based on first impressions. While we all want to conduct ourselves in this manner, it is easy to slip and it takes an event like this to shock us out of our complacency.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 09:45:22 +0000
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