There was a troubling picture in the news in the last few days. An announcement in the oval office was underway and one of the attendees collapsed. There’s a theory that he may have locked his knees while he was standing there. I sure hope he’s okay – I learned in college marching band that you never lock your knees when you’re standing in place for a long time.

Anyhow – the reactions of the people there were interesting, and in line with how different people react differently to situations, especially things that happen suddenly or urgently. Several people stepped in to help, one person left the room quickly and may or may not have returned. Another person stood there, and the camera captured them looking detached, almost like they’d been unplugged.

The picture stirred up memories of a few times in the past where things happened suddenly and unexpectedly in the nature of medical emergencies.

The first was when I was on a group tour of Russia. We had one day that was really rainy, so everyone had rain gear on; we were in a church, there wasn’t a lot of air flow, it was a little warm, and one person collapsed. My group included a doctor and a recently retired fire chief. They acted within seconds – handed all their stuff off to their wives and went to help the person who had collapsed. It was muscle memory for them, and fortunately it was just a case of a little warm, a little dehydrated, and the person was able to go on. All ended well.

The second was about 20 years later and I was at the symphony to hear one of my favorite pieces. The conductor was very well-known and when he came out appeared frail. During the last piece – my favorite – he started to show signs of weakness. He was holding onto the railing behind him, etc. It was noticeable also to the musicians, because a few of them left the stage while the piece was underway to go backstage. That never, ever happens during a performance. It wasn’t until the end of the third of four movements of the piece that he faltered and collapsed. Everything stopped. A few people ran out from backstage to help him up. He wasn’t going to leave and finished out the piece sitting on the podium and conducting from there. It was all extremely surreal watching everything play out. It ended up being the last concert he ever conducted – he had been under treatment for cancer, and it was not public knowledge.

Thinking about my past experiences and seeing the picture and other news footage from the oval office, several different types of people were there. Some people are capable of providing aid and do; some people are capable of going to get aid and do; some people are there to do a specific job and need to continue to do that job if help is there, some people don’t fall into the other categories and don’t do anything. They kind of shut down. I understand all those types and have probably been in all of them at some point during my life.

The important question I’ve learned about being helpful is “Am I able?” It may not be convenient or what I had in mind, but if I’m able I try to say “Yes.”