What happens when you have a problem requiring assistance from strangers to correct, when something happens that puts you or someone you love in danger, and solving it alone would be challenging, if not impossible? Would you be worried about receiving assistance from total strangers—people you do not know at all, especially now that we are living in such a strange and socially fearful time?
In this crazy time, with Covid, we cannot see most people's facial expressions in person. What a tragedy this is. Our world is increasingly political, with one party extremely conservative and one party extremely liberal, which causes daily news flashes of one berating the other. It isn't easy to trust anyone now. Everyone seems stressed to the max.
Allow me to tell you why it is really not such a bad, difficult, or trying time. Let me tell you about wonderful humans helping someone in need without expecting anything in return.
It was a Sunday, on a hike in the Oregon Cascade Mountains on a very familiar trail – a place where it is rare to see anyone other than those in your party. There were two happy people, three crazy dogs, and it was an unbeatable 80-degree sunny day in May, a rarity in the Pacific Northwest. Coming upon a beautiful creek burbling along, the dogs were anxious to get into the water, have a little swim, and drink the cool, clear water. Two of the three dogs went together, leaving one exploring upstream alone. The humans stayed with the two dogs because one was a younger dog—inexperienced around water. After leaving the stream returning to the trail, the humans could not see the third dog, a 90-pound Chocolate Lab, and started calling her name. Soon, a muffled whimper from the dog could be heard, but the dog was still not in sight. The couple continued to follow the sound and promptly found a very large hole in the ground about 12 feet deep with undercut sides surrounded completely by very thick vegetation. Upon calling the dog's name, she responded with a faint whimper. Looking into the hole, the couple saw a faint outline of the dog. Soon the dog moved to be seen more clearly and thankfully was standing on all feet, slightly wagging her tail.
Looking thoroughly around the area and carefully into the hole, the couple realized that it would be nearly impossible to extract the dog from this hole. It felt hopeless and terrible. The husband decided to take the other dogs to the vehicle and get some materials that might allow a rescue. As he headed back from the truck to his wife and trapped dog, he unbelievably met three people coming down the trail—a woman and two men. These people had passed the location of the trapped dog, spoken with the man's wife, and were headed for their nearby cabin to get a ladder. It was nothing short of a miracle. They had never encountered another human on this trail in all the times they'd hiked it, and now, here were three. A short time later, the husband returned to the trapped dog location, met his wife, and found another woman from the group who chose to stay with his wife and dog for comfort.
Soon the men and woman returned with two ladders. Carefully inserting the ladder, the husband descended into the dark, dusty cave-like hole, carefully checked the dog for broken bones, etc., and determined that the dog was ok. He aimed the dog at the ladder and proceeded to lift the dog upward to the multiple hands reaching for her. Reaching for a 90-pound lump of brown dog, it took nearly all of the helpers on the surface to pull her to safety, but it happened. The dog was/is fine—only a bit bruised, but overall very happy to get out of the hole. Careful time was then taken by all to find large tree limbs to cover the hole so other creatures could avoid similar situations.
As the now large group walked down the trail, the wife noticed for the first time that one of the guys had blue toenails. The back of his head was shaved and tattooed…not her first choice for body décor, but hey, it wasn't her body. She also remembered how the girl who stayed with her chose to eat the wild clover while she kept company, and how she would never have thought to try wild clover even though it made sense that it was edible.
What can we learn from this situation (besides the fact that God always provides a solution)?
Regardless of this time of public conflicts and very diverse political views, we must remind ourselves that good humans prevail. People ARE helpful and supportive when needed, and without being asked! No questions asked, no hesitation to assist, these wonderful humans walked over a mile to get a variety of rescue gear, assist with the rescue and then simply went on their way for an afternoon kayak paddle. Yes, the four helpers were very different ideologically from the couple, including their fascinating haircuts, men with blue toenails, and interesting vegetation eating habits. They were likely as liberal as the couple was conservative. So what?
Again, we are all just people…trying to get by in this world and that group of different humans were very nice, very friendly and very needed! We are extremely grateful to these wonderful people.