by Cathy Weber-Zunker
Minnesota, USA
Our small town in Minnesota has a park divided into two parts by a street. That street is an issue in our town; the park is gated and fenced for safety because of it.
One day, I was approaching the park when a plumbing-and-heating truck coming from the opposite direction stopped a good distance from the crosswalk between the two parks. I stopped because he stopped. Checking the streets and crosswalk, I saw no one. I just stayed stopped because he stayed stopped.
Traffic heading for fast food lunches was backing up behind us. We don’t experience traffic backups often in our little town.
A gasp caught in my throat when I finally saw what the truck driver saw: a child, probably close to three years old, smiling and unaware of danger. Without being noticed, he had escaped the fenced park and was running playfully onto the roadway. The little boy could have reached out and touched the grillwork on the stopped truck.
The man in the truck watched as a red-faced, frantic young mother raced into the street. The child, enjoying the game with his mother, merrily turned and ran the other way in the bright sunshine — toward the middle of the street.
The man leapt out of his truck and stood like a linebacker with his feet planted and arms spread. The boy rapidly surveyed his options: his mother on one side and an imposing linebacker on the other.
The choice was easy. The little guy went rushing into the arms of his mother. I exhaled as the mother and child reunion took place and the man got back into his truck.
With the child back in the safety of his mother’s arms, I turned the corner onto Tenth Avenue, my eyes clouded with tears.
That young mother had the privilege of taking her child home whole and intact. That little boy was able to grow up. That plumbing and heating man would rest well that night, knowing he had saved the life of a child.
Then there were the rest of us, the ones who witnessed an enormous act of kindness. People from my little town sat and watched someone save a life. Not one horn honked, not one driver yelled out of a rolled-down window; we all calmly and patiently helped save a life that day. The statement “It takes a village to raise a child” means more to me today than it did before I encountered that truck driver.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:11 — 2.0MB)
Your e-mail which linked to this (#694) said there were Sharing buttons here. I’m not seeing them.
They’re off to the left of the page. You do need to have Javascript enabled, and probably whitelist this site in any ad-blocker.
WOW! Just wow. A truly beautiful story. Thank God for one observant driver.
I would love to post these articles to my Facebook, but there isn’t a way to do that. Please consider a Facebook link.
The link is right there on the left hand side of every page:
If you’re not seeing it make sure your ad-blocker isn’t interfering and that Javascript is enabled.
Even without you can ALWAYS share ANY page from ANY website by simply copying the URL of the page (https://heroicstories.org/plumbing-truck-driver/ in this case) and pasting it into a Facebook post. That’s all that a share really is.
Hi Maggy!
Just popping in to say you can easily highlight, copy, and paste the web address (url) at the top of the page in three steps!
First by clicking on the web address in your browser. Most browsers will then highlight that entire bit of text. If it does not, try holding down the “Ctrl” key and pressing the letter “A” on the keyboard.
Next, hold down the “Ctrl” key again and type the letter “C”, as in the word COPY.
Now you can go to Facebook as normal and start your post.
Type whatever you want to add as a description, and at the end hold down the “Ctrl” key and type the letter “V”, which will PASTE the text you copied. (Its the letter right next to the letter C on the keyboard, so it is easy to remember!)
Once you see the pasted web address, you can press “Enter/Return” or click on the little paper airplane icon to post it to Facebook and share it will all your followers!
It might seem complicated, but after the first or second time using this method it becomes quite simple. Also, these directions are the same for posting on any social media platform, so feel free to use them anytime!