Where is the COMPASSION....Scottsdale, Arizona!!

Ok....so many times, I wonder about the state of COMPASSION in the world..Where did it all go?  Many years ago, people came together to help one another in a time of need.  No questions were asked but lunch or dinner was, greatly, appreciated in return.  If your barn fell down or the wife was sick, the barn would be fixed in one day and food would be delivered by many different people until she felt better.

So often in these times, people are too busy, too concerned for themselves and too full of "tunnel vision" to even notice if a friend or neighbor needs a helping hand.  Well...I saw an AMAZING site today on my way home from Ulta to purchase my stash of Mineral Make-Up.

As most poeple know, I live in Scottsdale, Arizona.  When you think of Scottsdale you don't think of horse property but there is a ton of it here.  I live on horse property and go thru another horse property neighborhood to get to the Mall.  Ok...I am driving home from the Mall area, taking a less major road called Sweetwater (very fitting to this story, by the way).  Driving and listening to my favorite Oldies station 94.5 FM as usual.  As I am heading East toward home, I notice a 30ish blonde-haired lady off to my right.  She is talking on her cell phone and looking over her right shoulder several times in a row.  She has a huge blue leash in her left hand.  I remember thinking, "I hope she finds her dog soon.  It is very hot out for her and her lost dog."

As I continue forward, I keep her focused in my rearview mirror....Not sure why.  Looking ahead, I see that the street light at the next major intersection of 56th Street is green but there is a line of about five cars just sitting there and a sixth one pulled off to the shoulder.  Then, I happen to notice a riderless horse heading South on 56th street and then making a right turn onto Sweetwater!!  This BEAUTIFUL creature, with his blinders on, is coming straight toward me in the opposite lane.  There is a slow-moving SUV behind the horse with its hazard lights flashing.  I pull toward the shoulder, at a huge angle, to notify drivers behind me that there is a problem up ahead.  I sit and watch this AMAZING animal trot with full grace, head held high and tail dancing with every step it took and go right past my vehicle.

I am watching in the reaview mirror to see what happens and I see a car, some distance behind me, pull to the shoulder and then a huge truck behind them, made a sharp "left" which blocked both lanes in hopes that the horse would stop and not keep going.  All the sudden, I see the blonde lady with the blue "leash" walk to the other side of the road and stand in the other lane.  The GORGEOUS reddish-brown horse walked straight up to his mom and put his down and gave a little shake.  He was so happy to see her!  It was adorable to see!!  I think it knew that it had misbehaved but was so cute in greeting its mom.  She leashed him up and started walking him home.

I got chills all over my body.  It was a BEAUTIFUL site to see that so many people, on a very hot and sunny Arizona afternnoon, stopped their cars in protection of this horse and helped to make sure that it was ok until it got to its mom.  It was utterly AMAZING!!

There could have been a very sad ending to this story as there was to two girls I knew in high school.  Lisa and Dawn were good friends and decided to take their horses for a ride one Sunday afternoon in Lemon Grove, California (a suburb of San Diego).  A 'cocky jerk' in a fast car decided it would be funny to race by the horseriders and 'rev' his engine.  Both horses spooked immediately.  Lisa's horse reared up and fell backward onto her, breaking her neck.  Dawn's horse bucked her off.  Dawn, injured and full of road-rash, crawled to Lisa and held her tight while she took her last breath....Lisa died at the age of 16 in Dawn's arms.  It was, truly, tragic and not something I will EVER forget.

Today made me so very happy to see so much compassion and concern for a fellow living creature that depends on humans to protect him.  If you see someone in trouble or an animal in trouble, please take the five minutes or so to see if you can help...It will make your day as well as theirs!

Let's all try to be a bit more kind to others...