I cannot resist rescue videos. Sharks encumbered with ropes that are digging into their pectoral fins, squirrels caught in the death grip of a snake, a racoon mama and her babies unable to escape a dumpster.... these are the scenarios that absorbed me for the last forty minutes. Even though I feel pretty sure that no one would post such drama if it did not end well, I still hold my breath. What I want to do is skip to the end. Just show me proof that the regal shark swam away free. Spare me the details of how long the divers hacked at the rope with pathetically inadequate knives. 

 

These are the stories of life as we know it. Although no camera is running while we argue with the kids over chores, or slump over a medical bill we cannot pay, those circumstances tether us as tightly as any boa. It does not seem likely that any of us will fall into a coma and wake up when the house is paid off and our grandkids are walking across the stage at graduation. The uncertainty and struggle are the main event. 

 

What I am drawn to in those animal videos is the altruism of the people hiking or diving nearby. I am cheering for them with gusto, even though it was probably filmed a decade ago in another hemisphere. 

 

Although we may feel like the squirrel, or the racoon when we are under pressure, we are also the liberator. The other day our car inconveniently died in a friend's driveway. She was cordial enough to bring her car closer, while John hooked up the jumper cables and gunned our sleepy battery back into service. 

 

It may feel like an interruption to our regularly scheduled life, but the chance to help a friend climb out of anxiety, or cut the tangled ropes on another person's spirit are the best show in town.