God’s Work

A friend of mine talked to me yesterday, telling me about the things happened to him last Sunday. When he was on the way home by car about 11 PM at night, he witnessed a terrible accident just in front of him. A motorcycle – with rider and passenger – crossed lanes in high speed from the right, while from the left a white minibus also came in high speed, passing my car.

BAMM! Both vehicles crashed. The white minibus just sped away, avoiding more trouble than the damage on the car. The motorcycle was thrown, all with flying debris on the road and the two riders were thrown too. The rider seemed okay because of his helmet and physique, but the passenger, a woman of her late fifties got a nasty bump on her head and blood keep running from her wound. Seeing that, my friend stopped on the road, got out from his car and guide the old lady to his car.

At first, he meant to do first aid on that head wound, but as the lady complained all the time, "Oh, the blood won't stop! Help me Allah (like Moslems do), don't let me die..." my friend decided to take her to the nearest hospital he knows. He drove straight to the Emergency Ward and took the lady in there – there's no time to waste, no time to think too much and just finish the job. The medics treated her at once.

As compelled by hospital policies, my friend just waited there for the anyone from the lady's family members to come, erasing blood marks all over the back couch of his car. And then, some males from the family – her sons, including the bike rider. They thanked my friend two times and asked whether he saw the licence plate number of the white minibus who ran their mother down, and my friend said he didn't saw it, as it's dark at night. My friend deliberately didn't tell them his name, phone number etc., just told them just to drive and ride more carefully next time and just strolled back to his car and drive home.

As he finished his story, he told me that he really didn't want to get any credit of what he has done. He just did the job God has given him to do, given the chance. He also confessed that he used to be and still a carefree, apathetic, egoistic person who doesn't give a damn about others, but God has spurred him into action that night: don't think too much, just do it. He also said that actually, the old lady also did him a favor by removing the guilt that was in him for years, as he too have been a hit-and-runner (though it was not a terrible crash).

"Oh, well, another God's work was done," said my friend, his expression unchanging. "And I just go on and live my life, feeling like being a slightly better person than before."

Riverstream Journal, September 26, 2008