I saved a life today. Well.... perhaps not a
whole life, but definitely a
leg.
In itself, apart from receiving a medal of merit, and the iron cross this would not have made much of an impact on my life, but actually it did because the leg was attached to a 12 year old boy who was stuck between two branches, high up in a tree.
He was hanging head down, restrained only by his knee which undoubtedly would have shattered had he struggled.
Again, in itself: big deal. Kids fall off trees and get hurt everyday. But this was in a public park in broad daylight, and if I heard the heart-wrenching cries of agony, found the site of the accident and was able to climb the tree and rescue the leg by supporting the boy whilst phoning the fire brigade on my mobile, my question is... how comes the other ten individuals walking their dogs were so oblivious to them?
If I hadn't held up that boy, he would almost certainly have lost that leg. As it is, he'll have to undergo surgery to replace the kneecap and stop the limb from going black and falling off due to the bunged up blood circulation or something.
He is 12 years old.
He was hanging from that tree for a good ten minutes until I came.
And not one soul cared to try and find out why a child was screaming in obvious pain and calling for help.
Which bites.
Big time.