The following is a post I wrote right after it happened a few months ago. I never had it published, I just posted it on social media. However, I feel that it is an important story for people to read, and so I have decided to publish it here. I know it's a little long, but please take the time to read the whole thing.

Very recently, my parents went to Kroger as they tend to do every week. My dad went inside to buy some groceries, and my mom stayed in the car to finish a phone call. Towards the end of her phone call, she heard a woman across the parking lot yelling loudly. She didn't think much of it at first, assuming the woman was just angry about something.

However, upon hanging up the phone, mom realized the woman was actually panicking, shouting something into her own phone like, "I don't know, her eyes are closed!" Mom watched from the car for a minute as several people stopped to look at the commotion, but no one stopped to help. An old man walked by, glancing back curiously, and then continuing on his way. The woman parked next to the ecstatic lady did nothing. People drove by, rubbernecking but declining to help.

Finally, mom got out of the car and started to walk towards the screaming woman, unsure if it was truly an emergency (because why else would so many people pass by without helping?). Before she had even reached the lady, the woman began waving my mom over and begging for help. When mom reached her, she saw an elderly lady in the passenger seat of the frantic woman's car. The old woman seemed to be unconscious. Her head bobbed up and down with her eyes half closed. She couldn't speak, but was making gurgling noises.

My mom talked to the panicking lady, who was too distraught to clearly communicate the emergency to the 911 operator she was on the phone with. Mom took the phone and calmly told the operator what was wrong, and then calmed the frazzled woman and tended to the elderly lady until paramedics arrived.

I write this not only because I am proud of my mom for stopping to help the two women, but also because I am saddened by those who did not. As human beings, how can we justify ignoring someone in pain? How can we refuse to help someone who is scared? How could we be so detached from each other that we could simply walk past someone who is clearly in serious trouble?

Regardless of whether we know the person in distress or not, we are all someone's child, sibling, parent, grandparent, friend, cousin, aunt or uncle, and we need to look out for each other. The same way we would hope someone would be willing to help our loved one in an emergency situation, we need to be willing to do the same for someone else's loved one, regardless of how awkward or uncomfortable it may make us feel. Just as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) stopped to help the man who had been beaten, robbed, and left on the side of the road, we must care for our neighbors.

I'm glad my mom was there to help that day, and I hope we as a society and as fellow human beings can learn to care for one another the way we should.

Update: We received word from a Kroger employee that the elderly woman was suffering a heart attack and, sadly, did not make it. Had one of the passersby been willing to help her earlier, perhaps she might have made it. Please, please remember this story should you ever run into a similar situation.