On Teaching Compassion ~or~ It Made My Day

Due to Mother Nature's need to dump rain on us all night via a violent storm, I found myself awake bright and early because the power was out and our basement was filling with water. I quickly packed both kids in the car and headed to my mom's house to pick up our generator to power the sump.

After a pleasant (albeit short) visit with my mom we headed back home to deal with the sogginess in our basement. We were about halfway home and I noticed what appeared to be a robin all hunkered down in the middle of the road. It was definitely alive, but not phased one bit by the passing cars. Strange.

While I watched all of the other cars drive right by, probably not even noticing the little guy,  I made a quick decision to pull over and even back up in the middle of traffic to rescue his fluffiness. I jumped out of the car, scooped him up in my sweatshirt and gently placed him in the grass on the side of the road.

I imagine he bonked his noggin on a passing car just moments before and was left a bit stunned. He didn't appear to have any injuries, so I'm hoping he was able to rest a bit before getting his bearings back and flying off home - at least that's how it played out in my head. 

 {source}

When I got back in the car I took the opportunity to explain to my screaming daughter why I had left her in the car. It went something like this, "There was a birdie in the road who may have been injured. I got out of the car to help him because he may have been hurt. It's our job to take care of others in times of need whenever we are able." I love that she was part of that and really hope that she turns out to be the kind of person that would also stop traffic to help a defenseless animal.

This message brought to you by years of witnessing similar acts of compassion carried out by my own mother. Thanks mom! I hope one day my daughter will grow up to be kind and compassionate as a result of witnessing such acts as well. 

Also, I do believe this falls into the random act of kindness category. A win-win I might say, because I do believe I just knocked out TBT #7. :)