I was stopped at a really busy intersection on the NE side of town. Perhaps three cars back so I had just enough of a view to see a woman driving through the intersection when she ran out of gas. Her car stalled, and rolled to a stop directly in the center of 8 lanes of traffic.
It happened so fast that I didn’t realize what exactly I was seeing at first. There was a commotion as she opened her door and shrugged and simultaneously 5 people came running from every which direction.
One man started directing traffic to stop so the car could be moved. Three others grabbed onto the back of the car and started pushing while the last guy ushered the woman back in her car to steer and he helped push the car with the driver’s door and together they rolled the car out of the intersection and into the nearby gas station.
I sat marveling at how fast it happened. She didn’t even have time to ask for help and 5 people were there. I didn’t even have time to realize what was happening and the car was already being pushed off the road.
I saw the guys running back to their cars, climbing in driver’s seats or passenger sides. The light changed and the intersection erupted in cheers and clapping and happy grateful beeps of horns.
How many times have I been at intersections and seen something horrible? Quite a few. But how many times have I been at an intersection and seen something as cool as a city of people looking out for each other?
Only in Portland.
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