THE KINDNESS OF FOUR FIREMEN

Everyone at some time in their lives experience kindness from strangers and during my life, my experiences from kindness, there has  been no exception to that premis.

I live in a small bedroom community (Malton) just outside of the large city of Toronto in Canada

I am disabled and I own a very large scooter to use when I want to go shopping if my wife is driving the car somewhere else. 

At the back of my scooter is a metal basket in which I can place my groceries in. 

I discovered to my horror on September 21^st, that I lost the key to the lock that locked my basket closed.

I called the local Fire Department and a woman answered the phone. I asked her if the Malton fire station had a bolt cutter that I could use to cut the lock free. I told her that if it has one, I would drive my scooter to the station and use the bolt cutter to cut the lock free from the basket. She said that she would see if they have one and she would call me back.

Ten minutes later, my doorbell rang and when I opened the door, there standing at the entrance were four firemen with smiles on their faces. One of them had a bolt cutter in his hand. That certainly is an unusual example of kindness.

        

I have been disabled since 1990 when as a direct result of me suffering from heart disease. I subsequently lost 73% of the functioning of my heart. Even to this day, I am suffering from ongoing congestive heart failure. Physically, I am a total wreck. Fortunately, it hasn’t had an effect on my mind since I am still as mentally fit as I was when I attended the University of Toronto for the five-year criminology program in the 1960s.

Both my wife and I travel a great deal around the world when I am giving speeches or for vacations and the airlines always have a wheelchair for me on hand at the airports so that I don’t have to walk the long distances in the airports to get to our plane.

Earlier in this month when we were about to fly to Cuba for a vacation, Air Canada didn’t want me to climb the steep stairs leading to the opening of their plane that was parked on the tarmac. They brought a movable lift and raised my wife and me to the opening of the plane. That didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was what happened when we were inside the plane. A flight attendant took us past the seats we purchased in the economy section and took us directly to the business section. She told us that the airline wanted me to be able to stretch my legs to its fullest.  Being in the business section had perks that we wouldn’t have had in the economy section.

When I was practicing law before I retired at age seventy-three, I was the only person in the courtrooms who didn’t have to rise when the judges entered the court rooms and I didn’t have to rise when I was addressing the judges.

When I was invited to give a speech to the graduating class of Vancouver College, the principal carried my food tray for me so that I could concentrate on my walking (cane in hand) to the head table.

To say that Cubans are kind to handicapped persons is an understatement. I will give you several examples of their kindness.

                                            

I had rented a motor scooter and when I was driving on one of the highways, I decided to cross over to the highway going in the opposite direction. In the process, the scooter tipped over to my left and the scooter fell on my legs. Suddenly two cars (one in each direction) stopped and the drivers ran to me and lifted the scooter off my legs and helped me to the seat of the then uprighted scooter.

On another occasion, I was exiting a Cuban bus at the middle of the bus when I accidentally tripped on the lower step and fell on my knees. I then rolled over to my side so that I could pull my legs to my side so that I could pull them from the area of the wheels of the bus. Seconds later, two husky Cuban men lifted me to my feet.  When I had difficulty getting into a bus, Cuban men in the bus would leave their seats and assist me.

When my wife and I were swimming at a beach in Rio de. Janeirio in 2010, I got knocked over by a wave close to the shore. Because I can’t get to my feet if I am knocked over, I was in the process of drowning when men on the beach saw me struggling to get up. They ran into the water and pulled me to my feet and assisted me to the beach.

There are millions of people who are very kind to others. I have been fortunate to be assisted by some of these kind persons who assisted me when I needed their assistance. 

As I said earlier, the perks are nice but I would rather not be handicapped.

When I was in my twenties, I taught gymnastics. I could do a backflip while lying on my back. Nowadays, all I can do while lying on my back is roll over to my side. 

When I was 42 years old, I climbed up that deadly Swiss mountain, the Matterhorn. Part way up the mountain, after looking at the clouds below us, I then looked upwards at the sky and said to a fellow climber, “I think I am closer to God than I ever have been.” Now I am 86 years of age and handicapped and when I try to climb stairs; that is when I am really closer to God than I have ever been.

My sincerest thanks to those kind people who assisted me to my feet when I was in need of assistance and especially to the four firemen who showed up unexpectently at my front door with their bolt cutter.