last week right before this interview for a human interest story for work, a teenage girl asked to borrow a cell phone. i let her use mine. to keep this story short i'll cut to the chase. it turns out she was kidnapped and taken to an apt a couple doors down from where we were doing our interview. i helped her call 911. later after the police came i filled out a police report. i had to tell them everything she told me.
although it was quite sad for her, for some reason now i keep thinking about how this whole thing was so timely and why i got involved. i was the one who arranged the interview, picked 4:30 instead of 4:15 pm. in fact, i know if we were any earlier or later we would've missed her. another thought i have is my choice to engage with this girl. i knew when she asked to use a cell phone that something was very wrong. i also knew when i later asked her if we needed to call the police that i was going to get more involved here. i even asked her if the men hurt her-- they did.
i don't consider myself a good samaritan by doing what i did because i'm sure most of you out there given the same situation would've done what i did. you would've helped her. right before she got in the police car i told her she was brave and that she was going to be okay. she referred to me as the 'nice lady'.
right after leaving the interview and dealing with the police and the kidnapped girl, i stopped by wal-mart on my way to another work related thing.
i typically never shop at wal-mart, but I went for a work related reason and i had to buy something. while looking for something and simultaneously hyper-ventilating, a woman called me a "piece of sh*t." gee, thanks.... merry christmas to you, too! a loathe wal-mart!
so, in less than an hour i go from 'nice lady' to 'piece of sh*t'!
4 comments:
maybe you shouldn't have ripped that tickle-me-elmo doll out of her hands??
actually i tripped her on purpose and then stole her oreos.
Wow Steph! You really made a difference in that girls life! Just makes me think about all those near misses (IE car wreck I would have been in a few weeks ago if the guy in front of me hadn't delayed at the light) and how God takes care of us if we will just trust Him to!
Just think how we would all have a happier life if we were nice to other people and they were nice to us! Hmmm.... I think that's called the Golden Rule, huh?
Michelle
yeah, golden rule is a good thing.
i do believe God was strategically allowing me to be part of something last week. not sure why he wanted me of all people. and for some reason i was pretty level-headed -- which you know from all the years growing-up together that i'm pretty irrational 90% of the time, esp when you guys take away my nerf ball and play keep-away with it.
i hate injustice in this world more than anything, especially when it comes to women being hurt. needless to say, each moment we have choices to make when dealing with people: we can either be loving or a complete a$$hole. most of time i'm an a$$hole, i am. i said it. but when it comes to injustice i am more naturally loving to people who are treated so unfairly -- homeless people to kidnapped girls.
OK. so sorry about your close call with the wreck. yikes. now i'm going to worry about you more. remember when you were 15 and you came home super late after being in that car wreck with your friends? mom and dad totally freaked. the next morning i found out what the commotion was all about and then saw your nose was super swollen from hitting the seat in front of you. i didn't like that one bit! thank God you weren't hurt hurt. i would've been pretty sad... i would miss pestering you. :)
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