todo es bueno

Saving Lives

At the Town Lake Trail this evening, in the stretching area under mopac, a man tapped me on the shoulder and handed me his cell phone. "Call an ambulance," he said. He almost dropped the phone before I could take it from him. A few people tried asking him what was wrong but he could hardly speak. His hands were purple and twisted and his jaw hung slack. He was covered in sweat. The 911 operator asked me to ask him if he had a heart condition, he answered "nooooooo" with pained frustration. An ambulance came out of a firehouse within sight of where we stood. In less than five minutes he was on his way to the hospital. It was probably heat stroke.

It all felt so routine. I handed his cell phone to a paramedic and jogged off. Under different circumstances we may have stood there helplessly watching him die. It goes to show how when society works it isn't particularly interesting. Or no news is good news.