That Warm, Sunny Day

15 years old,

The perfect age to grow up

Taking part in the world

Volunteering

A hospital reception desk.

I sign them in

“Hi, how are you?”

Patients, families, and visitors,

Print them a sticker

“Have a good day”

It’s a warm, sunny day when that man runs in

“Call 911, she just jumped”

A sudden blur fills my vision as 

Everyone gets up and runs to the windows vying for a look

My job is to sign people into the building.

So I do.

In an out of body experience, I look over my shoulder, and through the window

That one look, across the street, to the parking garage and  

I see a dark-haired, young woman, wearing a white shirt, and jeans, lying spread eagle on the ground.

Soon her body is obscured by ambulances but they are too late. 

I still pass by it frequently,

The parking garage where she jumped

I think of her every time.

I remember people asking if I was okay,

I wonder if someone had asked her

What would have happened

I don’t know who she was,

I don’t know why she jumped

But I can understand

Sometimes in a world filled with 6.8 billion other people

It is easy to feel insignificant

It is hard to have hope that one day you will feel valued

I still pass by it frequently,

The parking garage where she jumped

I think of her every time.

In the chaos of that hour, when the visitors exiting the building discovered that the parking

garage had been locked down, they became frustrated.

I distinctly remember a man who said,

“I understand there has been a tragic accident, but I won’t pay another hour for my parking ticket”.

I wondered how he could have been so callous.

 Sometimes we are forced to question what we have been told about common decency.

 Now upon further reflection, I realize I have been guilty of the same callousness.

We are compassionate seemingly only when it suits us.

While there was the man who refused to pay for his parking,

and those who gawked at her body,

there were people whose compassion had no boundaries.

The doctor who tried to save her,

 the first responders who transported her body to the hospital,

 I believe that their compassion was limitless that day. 

There are moments in life where we are callous

and only care for ourselves,

but at the same time there are moments that call us to be strong

to be truly compassionate. 

The line is hard to see,

the concept difficult to understand.

I know that we are all human,

 and that when a defining moment comes up,

and we are needed, we will respond.