I heard this story from a Peace corps worker, just home from living for two years in Nigeria. The story comes from his closet friend there, Koofah.
This happened when Koofah was travelling with his driver from the village of Akbuyo to Lagos, a city near the sea.
One night when neither could sleep. Koofah told him, "It was widely known that one shouldn't travel at night through the regions. Cars have been known to be bombed and held up. Bandits will slit your throat. It was a six hour drive and we had it planned to make it to the sea by dusk. Along the way near Fiditi, there was an accident. A truck hit the side of a car in front of me. The trucker was fine and went on his way without even stopping, but the man in the car was hurt. He had broken his shoulder and was cut up. We were afraid to move him . We made him comfortable and drove to the next town for help - an hour drive. We found the hospital and asked for the ambulance to be sent. But they didn't have any ambulance and there were no doctors in the hospital. They wouldn't be back for 3 days. Now I was stuck. I didn't know what to do.If we went back for him we would never cross the desert before nightfall. I told myself, I know someone else would come along, and they would bring him to the hospital. Even so, there were no doctors. I didn't know what to do. I was afraid of falling prey in the night desert. I am ashamed to say, I left him there. We kept our pace and I never knew what happened to him. It's been years and to this day, I regret not going back.
Like so many of us , Koofah never found his courage. he resisted the impulse of kindness in his heart and is now caught replaying his missed chance forever . its a reminder so often we stand by our plans or our fears instead of standing by our gut instinct.
In your own life, can you recall a moment where you grappled with a choice between following a predetermined plan or acting on a gut instinct to help someone in need? How did that experience shape your understanding of priorities and courage?
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