Thursday, July 15, 2004
July 15th, 2004 by tmuka
i saw a man die today
he lay motionless on the dry earth of the construction site that will someday become a wallmart
i wanted to cry and i wanted to look away but i couldn’t.
i couldn’t move and i couldn’t turn away. my eyes just locked on his motionless body that looked as normal as yours or mine, except that he was dying and i wasn’t.
i couldn’t figure out what happened to him, what powerful force sucked the life from his body.
the firetrucks came, the paramedics came, the police came.
some of the other workers paced anxiously, perhaps awaiting some kind of reassurance that this man would breathe again, that his heart would remember to start beating again…
the firefighter pumped rhythmically, relentlessly trying with his hands to push the fleeting bit of life back into the man.
more minutes passed. my eyes still locked unmoving on the scene in front of me. like a moviegoer watching, only this time the intense drama was harshly real and no credits would roll. and i couldn’t help but ache deep inside of myself for the family whose husband and father wouldn’t be coming home for dinner. if he had only stayed home today the world around him wouldn’t have come crashing down crushing the life out of him.
a reminder not to take life for granted. a reminder to live each day to the fullest. a reminder to take nothing for granted. a reminder that pain and death aren’t just created for our entertainment, that they are more real than anything and can change everything in an moment…
its a reality check. for me the check cost nothing, for others, it cost everything… i wont forget the images of his unresponsive body and the way the ambulances drove slowly out of sight. i’ll remember this reminder that life is precious… i wont forget that
i saw a man die today
