Liberty Mutual Ad (1st edition):

I've seen this tv commercial several times, and it never ceases to make me stop and think for a moment. This commercial not only encourages me but frustrates me all at the same time. On the one hand it's amazing because the thinking of other's before yourself attitude is awesome! And going the extra mile to do something for someone is even more extraordinary! Just think about how contagious of a life style this is... I mean seriously if you witness a noble act of some kind, does it not make you want to do something noble also? The great thing about this commercial is that none of the acts of kindness are anything challenging! I mean something as simple as opening a door for someone, or even just picking something up, for someone who has their hands full. Not going to break a sweat doing that! Not going to Pull any muscles (or at least you should'nt *if you do though, you should really try to become more active!* ) Your not going to ruin your day, in fact I would argue that it will brighten up your day! You see there is something liberating about helping someone else out, and even more liberating when someone else helps you out. But like I said earlier there is a frustrating part and it's simply this... WHY ARENT WE DOING THIS MORE OFTEN? Seriously so often we walk pass that lady who needs a hand with her groceries, we let the door close and that mans face, we laugh at someone who dropped something out of a bag and now has to pick it up. I remember my sophmore year in high school there was this girl who was permanently in a wheelchair. Well anyways I was on my way to my 4th period class which was out in the back portable buildings, and ahead of me I saw the girl in the wheelchair( unfortunatly I do not know her name, so we'll call her stacie so that I do not have to keep refering to her as the wheelchair girl) steering her way out to the portable's also. Well after some walking we were just about to exit off the main sidewalk onto the other sidewalk that ran parralell with the portable's. But in-between the two sidewalks was a small probably 4ft section of dirt, where they had not filled in with concrete yet. So as "stacie" got to the dirt spot her left tire became stuck, now I was still probably 15-20ft away from her, I watched (in what seemed like slow motion) stacie frantically try to get her left tire out of the dirt it was in. After still walking forward I now was about 5-8ft away (yes I walk very slow) and still stacie could not seem to get her tire unstuck, so you know being the "Gentleman" that I am, and not to mention the "Good Christian" I am, I did what I think most people would do, I side stepped the wheelchair and just kept on walking... WHAT WAS I THINKING? about 15 steps after that I felt like the biggest jerk in the world. So I turned around to go back in help, to only see stacie glaring at me, still stuck in the dirt. I knew I would just have to swallow my pride and go back to help! So I started back towards her, and about 3 steps into it, she wiggled herself free and scooted right on passed me. Very quickly this sick feeling fell over me, and I felt this emptiness inside of me, like my heart had been ripped out of my chest! I didnt know what to do, I felt like I should appologize to stacie, but at the same time if you had seen the glare she gave me, you would have just wanted to keep as much distance between yourself and her as possible. So again I did what I felt was the absolute right thing... I totally ignored it ever happened. As you can tell this story still eats me up inside even after 5 years now, I never had enough courage to go back to her and apologize. Every time I see this commercial it automatically takes me back to that moment in time, when I just side stepped someone in need... A couple of weeks ago I was driving back to Kayleigh's house with lunch on a Sunday afternoon, when we passed a little turtle trying to cross Lake Underhill. I swerved and drove past it, but as soon as I did, that same feeling came back to me, and I again went back to that moment. So I told myself I would not have the same regret this time, although it was only a turtle and not a girl stuck in the dirt. I quickley turned the car around and proceeded to pick up the turtle and carry him to the other side of the road. I felt better knowing that I may have saved that turtle's life. Later that night a student in our small group for Crave, said to me "Hey I saw you stop today, and pick up that turtle. That was pretty cool man!" I couldnt help but smile and say thanks. For some reason I thought about the commercial coming to life! Maybe this student would help someone or something out now. But anyways the reason for this blog was to admitt my stupidity, and also just to challenge you, to do something out of the ordinary today! Take that extra minute to do something nice for someone, help someone out today, say an encouraging word to someone! Remember you never know the impact you'll have on someone. And also you do not want to live with the regret of knowing you could have done something but instead just stepped aside...

-Barry