I witnessed the most amazing sight the other day. In a busy world of chaos and uncertainty I saw 12 strangers stop what they were doing and join efforts to save two stray dogs on a busy road.

I was leaving work after a short shift Saturday morning. I had pulled out of the parking lot and was driving only for about 5 minutes when I saw the two dogs on the busy road. I immediately began to panic as I saw one in the middle of the road with a stream of oncoming cars racing towards him. The other dog was lying beside a dead deer that had been hit.

I pulled over and got out and began to coax the dog from the middle of the road to the side. I was failing miserably when another car pulled over. A man got out and preceded to help me retrieve what he thought was my dog. After a short explanation and several attempts to get the dog off the road, I had no choice but to stop traffic coming from both directions.

The kind gentlemen began to console the other dog lying on the side of the road. After looking her over, he called out that she was a pregnant and had obviously already been hit and was injured. While I was directing the traffic to slow down and pass through with care, some pulled over on both sides of the road. Now there was a stream of cars parked in both directions.

There was several people all over the road trying to catch a very frightened dog. Some were helping me direct traffic while others were on the phone calling for helpful ideas. More passers-by were asking if they could do anything to help. One lady tracked down the owners from the information found on the injured dog’s collar. Unfortunately, the frantic owners were out of town and she was given the caretaker’s number. Another young man on his way to the gym had some dog treats in his truck and a leash with him. After 45 minutes and several cars almost hitting the white lab, we were finally able to entice the dog on the road to follow us to the car we were trying to get the injured dog into. It worked. He wasn’t about to allow us to take his little friend away.

After finding out where they lived from a lady passing by, we got them home safe and sound. Six people that were now invested saw it through to the end following us to the farm house where some of the volunteers got the dogs into a garage and gave them food and big bowel of water. The caretaker met with us and was informed of the dogs injured leg. It could have gone in a very different direction but because of several people who took the time out of their busy schedule, both dogs were saved. And the owners were not going to be coming home to a tragic end to their vacation.

As all this chaos was going on, I stopped for just one very still moment to see it. A beautiful vision of hope. I couldn’t help but notice looking around at all the strangers, from all walks of life, that they had one thing in common that brought them together. They all desperately wanted to save these two dogs from dying so they all joined hands. No words were needed, no questions to be asked. They all just simply opened their hearts and pitched in to help in any way they could. One man later explained that he missed his tee time while a mom and her son said they were on their way to his ball game but decided together to stop and help instead. WOW, I couldn’t help but feel blessed as I continued on my drive home that day thinking about what I just witnessed. Several strangers pulled together to save the lives of two dogs.

Just imagine what we could do if we were to all apply this kind of caring and unity to make the difference that our world so desperately needs today.