New Year's Day. A Day of Hero's!

My husband and I took our daily walk and rather than take our usual route we chose to take another path along the river that we hadn’t taken in awhile. It was cold but the sun was out and the frost on the trees was glistening. It was beautiful, serene and peaceful.

We were just finishing our loop when I saw a young man on the other side of the river, run out onto the ice on the river. I was immediately drawn out of my peaceful state…it wasn’t like he was cautiously stepping out onto the ice, he was dancing and running and hopping. I watched as he ran under the bridge seemingly in glee and when we got to where we could see him again you could see him making his way closer and closer to open water. Then he stopped and laid on his tummy making snow angels and doing kicky feet in the air like a child does. He then got up and started walking again, this time he went through the ice. I immediately tried to call 911 but my phone was dead from the cold and had to get my husband to call. The young man got himself out after a few tries and stood up and was trying to walk again..by this time a crowd was forming and were doing the only thing they could, call 911 as well and yell at him to stop moving…he went through the ice again, got out and did it again, by the 3rd time he had lost both boots and was bare feet.

The Fire Dept, Police and EMS showed up in droves. The young man wasn’t listening to them at first but after falling through the ice the 4th or 5th time I think he was too frozen with his bare feet and finally stayed somewhat still on the ice. They pulled him out onto an inflated dinghy and got him to shore where they put him on a stretcher and wrapped him up in blankets to take him to the hospital.

I am now left in a weird state, happy because a life was saved and grateful for the emergency responders that were so quick to respond and get him out….but then other things start to unpack. Instinct told me that the young man was on something or he was mentally ill or both. He had a desire to toy with death or he would not have gone out there, there were plenty of opportunities for him to turn around. He also had a desire to live or he would not have pulled himself out. He was probably in his early 20’s and looking to end his life…In contrast, I think of my mom who is in her 70’s fighting cancer, dealing with radiation burns from treatment and suffering unimaginable pain to live a little longer because she’s not done yet. She’s strong and she’s resilient. How do we help others become stronger and more resilient to life's challenges?

All I can say is the whole time he was on/in the ice I tried to mentally project to him that “ You are loved, look at all of us surrounding you at this moment, in this time, we care, we want you to live, we want you to reach out and get the help you need, today is your turning point, tomorrow will be a better day.”

I don’t even know how to end this note so I’ll just say:

If you are struggling, REACH OUT! Your struggles are temporary and can be overcome

If you see someone struggling, REACH OUT to them, be present, be a listening ear and if they need it, help them find the help they need.

I will take some more time to work through what I witnessed and the thoughts that came of it but I will look at this day as a positive one. A life was saved. I got to witness random strangers come together and see how much our society cares for each other. I witnessed our emergency responders not hesitate to put their lives in danger to save another.

New Year's Day. A Day of hero's. What a way to start out 2022.

Take Care of each Other,

Christine