Those of you who know me understand that I do a fair amount
of traveling during the growing season. Naturally, when you travel anything can
happen.
Long story short, I wound up taking a fall in a potato field
located about 20 miles from Burley, Idaho, a couple weeks ago. Nothing broken,
but I have a really bad sprain of my right knee. So I am 700 miles from home
and can’t walk out of the field without a great deal of help. Whereas I
couldn’t walk, I also couldn’t drive my rental vehicle, get on an airplane, or
get on the shuttle from the airport to go home. This created a 1400 mile round
trip for my wife to come get me. She is not fond of long-distance driving, so
I’m glad she was able to do this. It’s amazing how much better I felt mentally
when she walked into my hotel room.
It would be easy to dwell on the hardships of the incident
but I would rather concentrate on the positive things that came from this fall.
The fertilizer dealership that asked me to see this field went out of their way
to help me. They drove me to the hospital and checked on me several times when
I was in my hotel room. They even contacted me on my way home to make sure I
was all right. I could tell their concern was real.
The hospital staff was extremely caring in the way they
allowed me to take the time to cancel my car rental by waiting patiently for me
to finish my business before doing the x-rays. With more compassion than I have
seen at other hospitals, they bent over backwards for my comfort.
The hotel staff was absolutely awesome! Not only did they
select a room for me that was close to the main desk, they also brought my
dinner to me. My knee was about three times its normal size and when I called
the front desk for some ice they brought it to me gladly. They went so far as
to check on me periodically just to see if I wanted anything. It is important
to note that this was not the hotel I have stayed in every month for several
years. That hotel was booked for my original night’s visit, so I was staying in
a completely new place.
Some people would look at all of this and say they were just
doing their job. I saw it very differently. What I saw was people who didn’t
know me but still wanted to make me comfortable. They didn’t care if my
politics was left, right, blue, or red. They just wanted to help a person in
distress.
In this world of divisions and taking sides, it is good to
see that helping someone comes first and politics, race, or religion comes much
later. There are a lot of good people out there and I think if we all open our
eyes a bit wider we can see them. Once we see them, let’s be one of them.
