The Brick

A young and successful 

executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, 

going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was 

watching for kids darting out from between parked 

cars and slowed down when he thought he saw 

something.

As his car passed, no children appeared. 

Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! 

He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to 

the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry 

driver then jumped out of the 

car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up 

against a parked car shouting, 

"What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost me a lot of money. Why did you do it?"

 

The young boy was apologetic. 

"Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't 

know what else to do," He pleaded. 

"I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." 

With tears 

dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth 

pointed to a spot just around a parked car. 

"It's my brother," he said. 

"He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy 

asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help 

me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and 

he's too heavy for me." 

Moved beyond words, 

the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling 

lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the 

handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took 

out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh 

scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything 

was going to be okay. 

"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. 

Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy 

push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk 

toward their home..

It was a long, slow 

walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very 

noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair 

the dented side door. He kept the dent there to 

remind him of the boy with the brick.

I hope we don't go through our lives so fast until we would need a brick (better aimed at our heads !) to wake us up to what is really around us.

I read this story in an email and think it very thought-provoking. I hope it makes you ponder as well.