Often times, truly powerful actions do not come from celebrities or politicians or superstar athletes. They come from ordinary people. People just like you and I.
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I trudged through the increasingly hard rain without an umbrella and noticed a man and a woman who were both in their mid-40’s about 30 feet in front of me. Their clothes were ragged, and their general appearance indicated they were down on their luck. Based solely on their appearance, it seemed possible that the overflowing blue plastic bag the woman was clutching under her left arm might include all of their worldly possessions.
The man was an amputee who was missing his right leg and supporting himself on crutches. The right leg of his jeans was folded just above where his knee would have been and held there with a few safety pins to prevent it from touching the ground. Because both of his arms were operating the crutches that allowed him to move down the sidewalk, he had no way to protect himself from the rain.
The woman was standing to his left and with the hand that was not clutching the blue shopping bag, she was holding up an umbrella to protect him from the rain. It was a small, flimsy umbrella that looked like it might get turned inside out by the slightest gust of wind. But somehow the umbrella had made it this far.
The man proceeded slowly down Wisconsin Avenue making calculated and deliberate movements with his crutches as he propelled himself forward. The woman stationed herself beside him to ensure that the umbrella in her right hand was positioned to cover as much of him as it possibly could.
I got closer to them. The details became more vivid. I started thinking about who she was in relation to him. But, of course, there was no way I could know.
Maybe she was his wife or girlfriend or sister or friend or maybe she was a complete stranger. Whoever she was, she was holding that umbrella and keeping him relatively dry while he focused on making his way down the soggy street in that driving rainstorm. Meanwhile, she was soaking wet. Her head low. Her back hunched. Stretching her arm to keep that umbrella as high as she could to shield the man next to her who was unable to shield himself.
As I admired this act of selflessness, I found it impossible that I had never once considered what someone on crutches does in the rain.
It started raining even harder so I kept walking as I tried to avoid getting soaked myself. The man and woman slowly faded into the periphery of my walk home as we crossed paths. I saw them for less than a minute, but that woman holding up that flimsy umbrella for that man on crutches has stuck with me for almost a decade.
It was such a simple act of kindness, compassion, and selflessness. One that would not give her any notoriety or fame. One that would not earn her any money or material possessions. It was an act born simply out of love and empathy.
And because of this, it was infinitely powerful for me to watch that man and woman slowly moving down the sidewalk in that rainstorm on Wisconsin Avenue on that gloomy Tuesday afternoon.
It was powerful because of its simplicity. It was powerful because anyone could have done what that woman was doing.
Far too often it seems that we believe the most powerful actions are something we are unable to do ourselves. After all, it would seem that powerful and meaningful actions are not taken by ordinary people who are not on TV or don’t have vast amounts of money. But this is exactly the kind of thinking that prevents us from doing powerful and awesome and amazing things.
Often times, truly powerful actions do not come from celebrities or politicians or superstar athletes. They come from ordinary people. People just like you and I. People whose actions are not incentivized by any material gain and will not be talked about on the news or go viral on the internet.
In fact, the most powerful actions in the world are things every single one of us is capable of. If we were able to find ourselves in the right circumstances and realize what we have at our disposal, we would see that we’re more than capable. But sometimes we’re not open to these circumstances. Sometimes we are unable to see the ordinary yet powerful things that are right in front of us. We’re so busy looking at what other people are doing and thinking that we could never do those things ourselves that we don’t have the chance to consider we are just as capable.
And this is the reason why that woman holding that umbrella for the amputee on crutches on Wisconsin Avenue has stuck with me almost a decade later. She was doing something incredibly powerful even though she found herself in the most ordinary of circumstances. The result of her holding that umbrella meant more than I thought the simple act of holding an umbrella ever could.
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This article originally appeared on Medium for Human Parts
Photo credit: Getty Images
Thank you so much for this piece Charlie, it was just lovingly human. Thank you. Lovely piece.
Thank you for reading, Erin!