I rarely drive with music or the radio on in my car when I am doing short errands. It was quiet in my car, I was contemplating my tasks at hand. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I was driving down Lone Tree Way, on my way to the post office. As I was approaching a nearby intersection at a stop light, traffic slowed to the stop light, and I looked towards my right because of a fast movement on the sidewalk. I noticed a man running down the sidewalk towards the crosswalk. The pedestrian light was counting down 3, 2, and 1. Our traffic came to a stop there, and the bus had just made it through the intersection, pulled over to the next bus stop. I had a sense that all of the drivers were witnessing these few seconds of drama. The man wasn't fit, and a bit overweight. His fatigue-color jacket was swinging from side to side behind him, flapping in the wind as he ran through the crosswalk. It was obvious he was running to catch that bus. I sensed a great conscious energy being focused on that man. All of us stopped there at the light, watching that scene were cheering for the guy...I'm talking to myself out loud in the car, "Faster, faster, you're going to catch it". We are all watching the bus which seemed to be waiting for him. Then as soon as the running man was about 20 feet from the bus...we are all aghast that the bus took off. The man’s body language showed defeat. He came to a running halt, throwing his hands in the air, seeming to yell to the sky. He then bent over trying to catch his breath, first grabbing his chest, then putting both hands on his knees. Defeat hunched in his shoulders.
My internal mind was cautiously saying, “pull over when you get through the light, pick him up and catch up with the next bus stop”. As I was thinking this, I watched in amazement as the crossing traffic turned onto the Lone Tree Way. A white utility van...a bit disheveled, with no words on its side, perhaps painted over, pulls over to the bus stop. The man brings up his head and steps off the sidewalk and walks to the door of the van. Our light had not changed yet, and those of us observing this event, watch as the man hops in the van. I am smiling t myself and singing a “hallelujah”. I’m sure those who were also watching this happen were also grinning from ear to ear. We wanted him to catch that bus. It probably would be another 20 minutes before the next one came, and he must have been trying to get to an appointment. A job interview? A medical appointment? Maybe a trip to the hospital to see a dying parent, or a new baby on the way.
As our light turns green, I drive forward and catch up with van driving in the right lane. The man is there in the passenger seat, and a woman is driving the van, hurrying to get behind the bus that is moving down street to the next stop. I look over, the woman has look of determination on her face, and they are right behind the bus. Those of us driving parallel all move our cars over to allow the van to drive in front of the bus that is now stopped at the next bus stop. We are all smiling at what had just happened.
We were all rooting on for kindness to happen and perhaps help this fellow out....but right in front of us we watched a random act of kindness play out, the way it should, spontaneously. They say that when we see such acts of kindness, it is as if a gift is given to us. We didn't participate in it, but just watching and observing it creates the same chemical in our brains, as if we are giving or receiving a gift.
So that, my friends, are the miracles that we can see, if we just look for them. Some of us would have been laughing at the man for not timing his day right, perhaps judging him because he couldn't afford a car, or maybe he had lost his license for some previous misdeed. A negative thought. The cynical person, might have been mad at the bus driver for perhaps tricking the rider. But almost all of us who witnessed this few seconds of willing the man to catch the bus--and perhaps our conscious intentions of making sure that man would be successful, perhaps made that woman do what she did. She did want I would might have done. The angels are there...we just have to will them our way with collective intentions. It works. When it works, it makes our day a marvelous day of happiness. It doesn't take much to observe this. Simply turning off the radio, or the music in your car and driving in silence will bring these things to you. It's all there, but you have to be silent to see it, with your mind open.
Enjoy your day, and look for the angels.