Connected

Have you ever watched the television program, “Touched,” starring Kiefer Sutherland?  The premise of the show captured my attention and I was an instant fan.  It’s about a father and his son who has the ability to make connections with unrelated people around the world.  It shows the interconnectivity of people, how actions, seen and unseen, can change the fate of people across the world for the better.

I remember one such incident that unfolded recently right before my eyes.  I had just walked out of a restaurant with a revolving door that spilled out onto a wide sidewalk—directly in front of a busy street.  As I stood at the edge of the sidewalk, and waited for traffic to stop, I watched a child gleefully skip out of the restaurant door and run towards the street.  Her parents were caught up in the revolving door, still chatting with their friends.

In seconds, the child was beside me, about to step in front of an oncoming car.  I automatically swung my arm down, like a crossing guard, to block her path.  I barely touched her.  I felt the light fabric of her coat graze across my arm.  In that split second she stopped and spun around.  She ran back toward her parents as they sprang free from the door, and called happily to them, “Hi Mommy, hi Daddy.”  The little girl never knew the danger she was in.  Her parents each took a hand and strolled away, with their daughter in the middle, completely unaware they almost lost their child that day.  My actions changed the fate of that family and they would never know.  Our lives touched.

The fact that people from all over the world are interested in my book, A Rose for Sergei, encourages me.  Aside from the United States, the next largest group of people following my blog lives in The Netherlands.  Quite simply, I am touched, and I thank each and every one of you.

We are all connected.  Our everyday actions touch someone’s life somewhere . . . whether we know it or not.