I've pretty much given up hope for humanity lately. But people persist in amazing me. Western Pennsylvania has had a week of horrible weather. First, it was very hot. Yesterday, there were severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flooding all over the region. People in the communities held together and helped each other survive and clean up.
(dog picture break)
(that's my dog, not the dog I'm about to write about.)
My normal route home uses Old William Penn highway, about a three mile stretch as it runs along side the Parkway East. On the last bit of that leg home, there was a considerable traffic slowdown. At first I couldn't see what was happening, but then I noticed the tiniest dog running down the side of the road. It was a miniature dachshund or a mini-dach mix. The top of the dog's head was about six inches off the ground, it was that tiny. Traffic was basically stopped both ways, and people were pulling off the side of the road in an effort to help get this poor little scared dog to safety. Traffic coming towards us could not see the situation as well, so people were shouting and waving out of their windows, getting oncoming cars to slow down and see what was going on. At one point, a big semi-trailer pulled right out into the middle of the road to get an oncoming SUV to slow down.
(not a corgi, this is a corgi.)
I was among the many cars trying to help by pulling over and encouraging the dog to come to safety, but every time someone got close, the dog turned and ran the other way.
i don't know the fate of the dog, as the last i heard it had run into the woods (and hopefully home), but it was truly amazing to see so many people band together to try to help one helpless, scared animal.
Later on, I headed out to Target to pick up my prints from Flickr. (I'm donating some photo art prints to the Mensa silent auction) I stopped in a pizza shop on the way to get us some quick and easy friday night dinner.
There were two women sitting at a table in the pizza shop. One was in tears, and the other was comforting her. Just as I walked in, the young woman who works behind the counter came out holding a purse, and the woman being comforted broke down completely in sobs when she saw it. Apparently, it was her purse, and it had been left outside the pizza shop, on a random ledge in a busy strip mall in Monroeville PA, and someone brought it inside and gave it to them for safekeeping. It wasn't just the purse. The people were from out of town and there was prescription medication inside that could not have been refilled without considerable expense and trouble.
All this in one day. My despair hasn't lifted much, but I feel a curious sense of amazement.
Maybe it's heatstroke.
