The Sixty Second Hero

Every one of us has a hero inside that wants to come out and we don’t always have to wait for a life-threatening situation to display our heroism. Let’s be honest, a woman isn’t tied to railroad tracks everyday and little kids aren’t always trapped in a burning bus. Sometimes it’s those little things that may seem insignificant that can make a big impact in someone’s life or just change the course of their day.

On Monday I was at the Division of Motor Vehicles for a long overdue procedure of registering my vehicle. I arrived promptly at 1pm and at 2pm I was still waiting to be helped. The woman standing next to me had arrived a minute after me and had shifted impatiently a few times, glancing at the silver watch adorning her left wrist. Because I couldn’t help it, I overheard her conversation that she was debating whether or not to leave and try again another day. Apparently, she was running late to her next appointment and all she needed to do was drop off a license plate. I myself had been waiting quite a while but immediately felt that I should help this woman. That’s when the inward struggle began.

One side of my brain told me I was stupid for giving up my place because I was almost next. The other side of my brain urged me to give her my place in line because it would brighten her day a bit. But why should brightening her day mean anything to me? She was a stranger. Someone I will most likely never ever see again and my feet were hurting!

Suddenly, that heavy feeling on my heart began to be somewhat bothersome and I did what I only know how to do. Timidly, I turned to my right and held out the ticket with my number in line. “I know it’s not much but you can have my place in line.”

The woman was silent and then looked down at her ticket and then at mine. “You don’t have to do that,” she responded.

I nodded, “I know but I’d like to help. You seem to be busy and this might take about ten minutes off your waiting time.”

The woman seemed to be convinced, “I really appreciate that.” We exchanged numbered tickets and immediately her new number was called. “Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it.”

I watched the woman walk to the counter not very sure how I felt because my feet still hurt. I reminded myself that I did what I felt was right. I changed that woman’s experience and alleviated her stress. I’ll probably never know her name or what she had to run off to that was so important but maybe I was a hero for a whole minute. Maybe, in some way, I made a small wrinkle in humanity so one day she’ll remember my act and offer it to someone else.

When you’re not a selfish person it can be quite humbling to have someone do something nice for you, especially if you don’t even know the person. It changes your cynical perception to believe that society isn’t as bad as you think and maybe there is hope for mankind. Hope precedes inspiration and inspired people can change the world. I’d like to think that I changed the world on Monday all because I was a hero for sixty seconds.