Good Samaritans, building community

Let's take a journey together: Ginger and I were on a 2 1/2 mile hike in the foothills.  It was a beautiful, sunny, windy day.  We had a great walk - saw a lot of Rocky Mountain Bluebirds.  Beautiful.












Then we got back to the car and found that I'd lost my car keys along the hike.  Ugh.

We started back on the route to retrace our steps.  After a short distance, Ginger refused to go any further, so I tied her to a fence post to rest.
















As I retraced our route, I asked each jogger, cyclist and hiker, Have you seen a set of keys?  Lots of empathy and apologies.  Nice people.  Then there was a cyclist who went beyond: he stopped, turned around and began to retrace my route himself.  Until he crossed the next rise and was past my sight, I could hear him stopping others on the trail, asking if they'd seen keys.  After a while, as I was plodding away, he returned, apologetic that he hadn't located the keys.  Wow.

So, much love to our friend, Gregor, who delayed her dinner plans to pick up Ginger and I, take us home, and to await a locksmith to let us into our home. (Now, Ginger and I affectionately refer to her as Aunt Gregor.)  

So, the next morning, I awoke and made the 1 1/2 mile trek to the trail to retrace the path, more determinedly.  And - just like the cyclist - I met an amazing jogger.  She stopped, lamented my loss because she'd lost things on this trail as well.  She turned around and began jogging in the direction she came, to check the other half of the loop.  I later met a gentleman who recognized me and said, "Oh, we're looking for your keys.  A lady described you and asked us to keep an eye out."  About a half-hour later, I heard her beckoning from a ways down the trail.  When we reconnected, she said a gentleman had found my keys - a gentleman whom she had stopped to say, "Help me look for a lady's keys.  I don't see very well."  Wow.

So, what was most striking was that the jogger and the cyclist did so much more: they created a community, they rallied others, they crowdsourced.  It was amazing.  In the past, I would've thought that the other concerned outdoors-people were kind, gracious, supportive.  But the jogger and the cyclist created a paradigm shift.  And they didn't only help me alone but they reached out to others to build a community.

I'm still stunned and humbled.

So, to Traci the jogger and to the gentleman-cyclist, thank you!  You inspire me, and you make me want to be better.  Thank you~



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