Yesterday I experienced something deeply profound.  I was driving home after a long day of work and running around, and there was a dog walking into the street.  No owner was around, and this dog had obviously gotten away from his home.  He was wearing a big collar with tags, and everyone driving was slowing down so as not to hit him.

As I drove past, I couldn’t in my right mind leave the dog in this dangerous situation, so I pulled over onto a side street calling to him in a sweet “come here puppy” voice.  The dog followed me down the side street (phew…at least off the busy road for a moment), but he was scared.  He wouldn’t let me get close enough to read the tag and was barking and always staying at least 10 feet ahead of me.

My cell phone battery was dead, and as I was trying to figure out what to do, another concerned woman came to help.  ”He ran right in front of my car,” she told me with so much genuine care on her face.  She had parked her car a block away and walked over, and we decided that she would go back to get her cell phone so we could make some phone calls.  As I was standing on this street waiting, the dog was still barking, but suddenly his face perked up, and he began to run towards me.  Yay!  It was his owner behind me jogging around the neighborhood to find him!  This naughty doggie had jumped the fence and gotten out!

I was so relieved, and the owner gave big thank yous.  I am so happy to say that I was able to go home with a happy ending.

The experience with this dog made me feel almost ecstatic, because I got to witness first-hand the kindness of strangers working together.  Even the people who didn’t pull over were slowing down in such a careful way when they saw the dog in the middle of the busy road.  You could just tell that every car was hesitating.  They only didn’t stop, because they saw that somebody else had.  I am confident that even if the owner hadn’t shown up, the other woman who had stopped and I would have figured out how to help this dog.  She gave me a moment of faith in humanity, and I felt really good as I headed on my way home.

The situation made me think of this Nickelback video I had once seen.  The song was called “If Everyone Cared,” but it is the video that really stayed with me.  As the music is playing in this video, they show pictures of people who have made a big difference in the world:  Bob Geldoff, Nelson Mendela, Amnesty International, etc.  Click HERE to check it out.  It is a really powerful video, and I know it will stay with you, too.

The moment with the lost dog and the stranger I was working with to get him home made me think of how our small actions really can give the world some positive impact.  I strive to be conscience of this in everything that I do, and hopefully, if I remember the plight often enough, I will have done my part.