Reflections: A Gift from Strangers

As some of you know, my major exercise is bicycle riding and walking—currently 80 miles per week mostly bicycling. This morning’s ride was a bit unusual. Saw a person walking her mastiff-size muscular pit bull...not unusual. Saw some longhorn cattle…not unusual. Saw runners, walkers and bicyclers...not unusual. Saw and heard jet fighters roaring overhead ... not unusual.

What was unusual was that the shoelace of my right shoe caught on the sprocket of the bike then wrapped around the pedal. Thankfully, it happened as I was coming to a stop anyway on the curb of a busy street. I had come to a stop to cross that street. I could barely reach the shoelace with one hand, but could not loosen it or my foot from the pedal. Therefore, I gently laid the bike on its side with my right foot still attached to the pedal, which means that I, too, was on my side on the street curb with the bike between my legs.

A senior couple (about my age..I’m 68) stopped their car to help, wanted to know if I was okay and offered to cut the shoelace with a knife. Then two city workers stopped their pickup, turned on their truck flashers, blocked a lane of traffic and offered help. They, too, wanted to cut the shoelace, but one of them managed to untangle it and untie the knot. Then, everything was okay…no injuries, no damage to anything…and we all went our separate ways.

Thanks to the helping hands of strangers, this story was somewhat anticlimactic.

Years ago, a stranger told me, "Thank God for small favors."