I heard unexpectedly from Dr. Michael Shannon a few days ago, my daughter’s pediatrician when she was young. His text reminded me of her mountain lion attack in 1986 and of all the people who helped save her life, but it also brought to mind his role that day.
He rushed to Mission Hospital that Sunday afternoon and spent the entire night and the following day with her, only going home over thirty hours later.
I will never forget his dedication among so many others selfless acts that day. He wasn’t the only one who was courageous: the man who fought off the mountain lion was our true hero, the paramedics, the doctors, so many people who helped us. The private investigator who took her case from the first day was relentless in finding evidence against the county. And the lawyer who took the case and performed brilliantly in the courtroom helped Laura’s life in countless ways.
Why do people perform selfless acts of courage for others? Where does that compassion come from? Many years later, I still wonder. But I think I’m closer to an answer than I was before. And it’s a very simple one.
I think it’s a culmination of the many little choices we make every day. That smile we give to someone who is rude to us, putting the shopping cart back at the grocery store, asking our partner what we can do to help them during the day, bringing in the groceries for a neighbor, contributing to the cancer fund for a stranger, even though we don’t know them. There are so many opportunities each day to make good choices, even though they’re simple and seem like nothing at the time.
They aren’t nothing. They slowly add up over days, weeks and years, over a lifetime, and they are there when the big things happen. It’s so simple. All those little choices add up to the direction our lives will take, one of bitterness and anger or one of kindness and love.
I know that everyone who saved my daughter’s life that day, in the park, in the hospitals and in the courtroom in the years to come, was doing what they had always done. They had a lifetime of caring for other people, in clinics or hospitals, in courtrooms or taking depositions, visiting people in jail, arguing for people who didn’t have enough money. They had always acted out of a deep sense of love and compassion for others, even though the people might be strangers.
Those acts of courage and compassion weren’t random. They were small choices they had been making their whole lives. And when they were called upon to do the big things, those courageous acts that would make a profound difference in a person’s life- they were ready.