Helping Strangers

The help of a stranger can mean so much.  I have discovered on several occasions, that the majority of people do nothing when they see that some one needs help.  What I don't know, is why.  How can you look at someone, that is in clear need of help and just keep driving, or look away, how can people do nothing?  I don't think I could ever be, that kind of person.  I am glad I am not, and I hope if I ever need help, there is someone like me to be there for me.

April 9 2006, I was driving on route 9, on the way to take my son to see Monsters Inc. on Ice.  I was nearing exit 15, by the river.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw a bloody man climbing up the embankment.  I looked in my rear view mirror, and I could not believe my eyes.  What I saw was horrific.  I pulled over. Gavin was sleeping in his carseat, totally unaware of what was happening.  The man was soaking wet, dripping with blood from head to toe, and had climbed up a thirty foot embankment from the river.  Now, he was on his knees, holding onto the guardrails for support, rocking back and forth.  It was surreal.

I called 911 and explained to the operator where I was and what I was seeing, I told her what the man was doing.  She asked me to explain like fifteen times where I was, can you get any more specific than exit 15 on the water side?   Then she asked me if I knew him, knew anything about him.  I told her that he was drenched in blood and it appeared that he had been stabbed several times.  I did not know anything else about him, other than he was white, appeared to be in his late twenties to early thirties, and and he was covered in blood, white as a ghost and his lips were blue. 

The operator, asked me if I thought I could get out and talk to him.  I didn't really think about the fact that I could be putting myself and my son in any danger.  I got out.  I walked over to him, still on the phone with 911.  I asked him his name and I told him that an ambulance was on the way.  He was still rocking back and forth and he looked right through me.  I kept asking his name, and talking to him but he would not answer.  He just kept rocking back and forth, shivering. 

 I didn't know what to do.  It seemed like it was taking forever for the police to come.  I yelled at him to please tell me his name.  He reached for me.  He started hysterical balling.  "Mmmmmy naname is Chris", he said.  I said, "Okay, Chris I am here to help you, I am on the phone with 911."  "Could you tell me what happened?"  I asked.  He cried so hard that he had to lay down.  "I just tried to kill myself", he said. 

I really saw him after he said that.  I could see that he slit his own throat, he cut himself several times up and down his arms, he slit his wrists, he was bleeding every where.  "What did you do?!", I asked him.  He looked up at me still crying, and he said, "I cut myself and jumped off the rail road trellis."  "I didn't die."  "That's all I wanted."  "I just want to die." 

I felt terrible for this man, it was heart wrenching.  I couldn't help but think that this man, was some one's son.  That could be Gavin some day.  There is no telling what led Chris down this road.  I wish I knew why he felt so alone.  Chris was somebody's son, brother, uncle, father......  I was the only person on that busy highway that stopped to help him. I was the only one.

I stayed with Chris until the police came.  I thought for sure they would at least want to take my name.  I was hysterical.  I didn't know what would happen to him, or if he would live.  The police didn't take my name, they never asked me any information at all.  I never got to know what happened to him.  I think I will always wonder, if he is ok.  I am always going to wonder, if he died alone.

Gavin never woke up, we went to Monsters on Ice.  I don't think he ever had any clue what was happening around him.  I am thankful I had the distraction, I don't know what would have happened if I had to go home right after that experience.