If You Think An Elderly Person Is Going To Fall Run As Fast As You Can To Catch Them

That may seem like obvious advice but what isn't obvious is that when we see something bad about to happen we usually freeze. Every once in awhile I think about a 92 year-old neighbor of ours named John. He and his wife lived in a rental triplex across the street from us. One day he was getting something out of his garage which had an old heavy door with worn out springs. I was in my driveway playing with our cat when I heard a crack. Apparently his garage door didn't stay up like it was supposed to and fell and hit John's head. The next few moments seemed to play out in slow motion. As I watched John slowly stumbled backwards and fell and hit his hip. The cracking noise that came next has haunted me ever since. Right at that moment I knew that eventually my elderly neighbor would be a goner. John had broken his hip and passed away 3 months later.

Every time the memory of this comes back to me I wonder if I had raced across the street fast enough if I would have been able to catch him before his hip hit the driveway. While it played out in just a couple of seconds, in my mind, it seems like an eternity. Still, could I have at least broken his fall had I acted immediately? I'll never know. I was trying to process the information of what I had just seen and heard while the bigger tragedy was about to happen. It makes me sick every time I think about it. So you if see an old person stumbling please act quickly. You may save a life and you'll never wonder "What If"?