Nothing

Today, while driving home from religious worship, I had a scare while approaching my house. I should point out that yesterday and today it has been snowing, not heavily but steadily, and it is the first snowfall of the season. A bit late due to the unseasonably warm weather we've been having this year, but it appears that things are back on track.

As I was approaching the block I live on, I could see flashing lights from a distance. I wasn't sure if it was a snowplow or an ambulance (I had dismissed police car and firetruck as possibilities; the lights were incorrect color and position for a police car, and a firetruck would be making noise and there was a distinct lack of smoke). Pulling closer, I could confirm that it was, in fact, an ambulance. Pulling even closer, I could confirm that it was parked across the street of on the block I live on. Pulling still closer, I could confirm that, in fact, the medical response people were there to aid someone next door to us, and not someone from my household. At this point, I'm easing the car along between the ambulance on one side of the road, and the cluster of people on the other.

Apparently, an older person had fallen outside. As someone who has experienced their fair share of wintertime outdoor falls, I know how much that can hurt. And because the person was getting on in years, a fall could be potentially dangerous; bones break much easier the older you get.

I really didn't get involved in the whole thing, there being very little for me to actually do. I have little-to-no medical training, medical professionals have already been summoned to the scene, and I didn't know the person who had fallen or the people around them. By the time I had gotten the car parked properly in the driveway (having needed to pause to clear away snow), the medical workers had already loaded and secured the person into the gurney and were getting ready to load them into the ambulance. My services were not needed, which is just as well, as they were basically nonexistent.

I remember reading a quote somewhere, "If history is any guide, nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say." Something we must all learn at some point in our lives is that sometimes there is nothing that we can do in a given situation. Or perhaps there is something we can do, but it would be more beneficial to all parties involved if we stayed out of it.

It's not an easy lesson to learn, but worthwhile things don't tend to be easy.