Saving a Pelican – Have you ever wondered what you would do if given the opportunity to come to the aid of another? If giving aid caused you discomfort or risk, would you? That is a question we all ask I think –What would you do?

Several years back I had that chance-what happened seemed a metaphor for my life at the time. The night before Thanksgiving I spent at the ER with a family member who had overdosed and it was a dark time in my life to say the least.

I was smoking at the time and Thanksgiving morning on a brisk November day seemed like a good time for a cigarette and a walk. I walked down to the lake and noticed something moving in the water, it was a white pelican struggling to fly.

It was windy and cold but suddenly there wasn’t the slightest thought of what to do. I walked through thick twisted vines, thorns and mud to where the pelican was struggling with fishing line. I fell into the water up to my waist and cut the line with my keys while being pecked by its huge beak.

Waist deep in the cold mud, I watched as it flew again and I felt as if I had experienced a teaching moment. I realized that I could not save the pelican and the best I could do for it was to simply free it.

I walked back to the shore and laughed as my cigarettes were now soaked and with a presence you can only describe if you feel it-I felt almost like God was saying-“oh and quit the smoking, it’ll kill you”

That Thanksgiving turned out to be a very memorable and powerful day for me-the family member lived to win their battle with addiction and I was taught a valuable lesson-sometimes you can’t fix it, sometimes all you can do is let it go.

So what would you do? And what have you done to help another, whether another person or an animal and what did you learn from that experience? Why did you chose that moment to act?