Today was one of those days I will remember for the rest of my life. I have learned a lot about witness recall from my schooling and have read that memory is heightened and the imprint, although distorted, can be prompted to recall vivid details. I now know this to be fact. The girls and I were downtown today changing buses and coming home from seeing Max, when right in front of me I watched a person get hit by a tram. We were waiting for the light to change with about 50 other people at the crosswalk (it was lunch hour) when out of nowhere they scurried across and the tram didn't even have a chance to hit the brakes. I heard the sound and watched the body distort in the air and land in the same position on the curb in front of us. The crowd screamed and thankfully the girls were in the middle of the crowd too low to have seen anything, but as I panicked I realized the only thing I could do (having the girls with me) was to get them across the street without knowing or seeing and pray for the guy and the people who could take care of him. I don't even have a cell so I was left with a sense of helplessness. What horrified me still though was what happened next. Everyone was sitting on the curb gasping and screaming, but nobody moved, they all just sat there looking at him until the light changed; then they went on their way. No one ran across traffic to him, when the light changed no one stopped at his side. They hurried past craning their necks, but too busy to care. There was no crowd that gathered. The fifty on my side who had clearly witnessed it kept going and as the other side mixed with ours they gave a curious look as to what the others might be looking at and kept on going. I numbly walked across and held my tears back. Thankfully one woman who had crossed with me grabbed a security guard from the bank across the street and pointed and told him something in Chinese as she hurried along her way. The girls and I waited about five minutes for our bus and as it pulled into traffic I was able to see that the security guards were talking on their phones and setting up a perimeter. The man was laid out in a more natural position, but I am still anxious as to find out his fate. As I sit here tonight pondering it all I have come to some conclusions. Life truley is precious. I've heard it lots, but today it hit home. How many of us have made plans for the holidays with special gifts and thoughts. How many of us put off telling someone how much they mean for that special time or instead we hide our feelings afraid they will not be reciprocated or received for what they are. Did that guy have people who put presents under the tree or a family that was counting on him for Christmas dinner. Did the people he affected in his life show him how much they cared or were they fighting as he walked out the door. I was frusterated at Brielle, whose going through a bad stage, and a guy looked at me like I was a horrible mom for chastising her so strongly and he had no idea that it was the tenth time she was throwing a fit for just this outing, but what if today was her last day? Life is so final and when it's over you don't get a second chance. My Grandpa sent me an inspirational email the other day an one of the sayings that really stuck with me was something like "when you are feeling frustrated stop and think...will this matter in five years" and it's been helping me put things in perspective, but this really compounds the thought. It makes my life feel so vunerable to outside influence and so much like a drop that can ripple through the world and people I affect. One action can have such a chain reaction to the people we know or don't know. Was his purpose finished and how many people, that he didn't even know, on that corner will now be forced to consider their own conscience and life like I am. Well, to all those I have met along life's way, thank you. Merry Christmas and may you make everyday after it special and meaningful. Everyday brings a chance to change and make a new ripple. I hope yours eventually reaches the shore it was meant for.
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