Yesterday I saw something that has bothered me ever since.

Trudi and I were out driving around doing errands, in the rain, and we approached a super busy intersection.  Maybe the busiest intersection in the city, I don’t know.  Anyway, approaching the intersection, I could see that the was a car in the left lane that wasn’t moving, looked like it was stalled.

The light turned red and people were going by the car on both sides, either just moving into the right lane or going into the turn lane and then back into the left lane.  I was in the right lane and stopped a car length or so behind the stalled car.

The was still a couple car spaces ahead of the non-moving vehicle and the guy behind him went into the left lane and went back into the left lane, but wasn’t completely straight, still at an angle.

The stalled car didn’t have its emergency blinkers on.  I noticed that the car had exhaust coming out its tailpipe.

I told Trudi that I thought that the person in the car had an issue, but I couldn’t see into the car since I was a car length back in the adjacent lane.

I realized the light was about to turn green and wasn’t sure if I should just get out of my car to check on the person or call 911.  Just then, the brake lights of the stalled car went off and the guy just rolled at a walking pace, straight into the car in front of him, hitting him, at an angle, right between the passenger’s front and rear door.

The guy that got hit got out of his car and I told him that I think the guy in the car was either sick or drunk.  I was stopped in the right lane and called 911 to report the problem.  Right then, the guy behind me, in a huge pickup, just started laying on his horn.  Like continuous.  I sat there for a second and then started moving forward to let the guy by, but by the time I was past the accident enough to let the guy pass, I was in the intersection.

I was still on the phone with 911 and past the intersection.  She told me that the emergency responders were nearly there, so I gave her my number and kept moving.

I don’t have an end to the story.  I don’t know if the person in the car was sick, drunk, asleep, etc.  What I was wondering is how long they had sat there “stalled”?

It was at least through one cycle of lights.  No one seemed the least bit interested in the car, except for getting past it.  I guess it could have sat there for lots of cycles of stop lights.  I wonder if the car could have been there for an hour?   I’ll never know.

I am still wondering what is the matter with our society that no one stopped and checked on the guy.  All everyone was interested in doing was getting past the car.  Why had no one just glanced over and realize that the person needed attention?   It was fairly obvious to me.  If I would have just been one car length further forward, or gotten to the light a little earlier, I would have known for sure and acted, I hope, appropriately.

And once the accident occurred, all everyone was interested in, once again, was getting past the situation before the emergency guys showed up.  Man, that is a sorry example of our state of current human nature.

I know we live in a society that is constantly on the move, always short of time, especially right around noon on a Friday, but we all need to have it ingrained in our brains that we have to stop and render help once we recognize someone needs help.   That isn’t our normal reaction, so it needs to be taught, I guess.  And we must be doing a bad job of teaching it, since it doesn’t occur unless the situation is tragic.

I don’t know how to fix the problem, but I at least recognize the problem.  I guess we should all try to stick to the saying to treat others as you’d expect to be treated.  We all get in situations where we might need some help from strangers.  Let’s just hope that when that happens, the strangers around us are morally grounded, show a little humanity  and are not in a rush.

Click here to see some real life heroes.

I sort of feel like ranting a little, but am too tired from lack of sleep, so I’ll just state the obvious.  The service industry in the United States sucks.  Pretty much straight across the board.

And it’s not just limited to the people who are supposed to be able to fix our automobiles, electronics, or homes.  It is just about everyone.  I’m not sure if it is because of lack of education or just that stuff is way too complicated to be fixed, but whatever the reason, it is a fact.

This is the probably 70% of the reason that I learned to fix things myself.  I got sick and tired of getting back, whatever was supposed to be repaired, and it worked worse than it did when I took it in.   I figure that attempting to fix something that I know nothing about isn’t that big of a risk considering the high chances it not being fixed by someone who claims to be knowledgeable. It is the reason we live in such a disposable society.

I know that medical care/dentistry/insurance is not really part of the service industry, but it is sort of what got me thinking about this whole thing.

When I fell and broke my hip, I bit my lip and put a gash in it.   That was nearly 5 months ago.  I’ve had this thing in my mouth, some scare tissue or swollen gland, that I just keep biting.  When I saw my dentist, who is great, up in Winona, he told me that it wouldn’t get better on its own and I needed it cut out.

So yesterday, I had an appointment to go to an oral surgeon and get it removed.  It wasn’t such a big deal, but the whole thing went badly.  First, they couldn’t get a hold of my insurance  to figure out if it was covered.  They finally got through to them and my insurance told them that they didn’t have an record of me.  Then the called back and said that I didn’t have an dental insurance.

I had explained to the oral surgery people that I didn’t think it was a dental problem, it seemed more like a tissue deal.  They agreed, but said that they only had dental billing codes.  They don’t have normal medical billing codes that they could submit.  I thought that was strange.  They said that when they send the tissue in for a biopsy, that maybe they will put on the regular billing code and not a dental code.  Maybe?

Anyway, the oral surgeon seemed competent.  It took about 20 minutes and he was sort of training a new assistant.  I was getting my lip yanked around like crazy, they were having a hard time keeping hold of it because it was so slick.  They kept using more and more gauze so they could get a good grip on it.

So, they cut out the gland and some surround tissue and then stitched it up.  It only took three stitches and felt okay because it was numb.

I paid them the $355 and left.  The stitches were supposed to dissolve on their own.  Little did I know that they would be gone almost instantly.  By the time I went t the pharmacy to get a prescription filled, I could taste blood in my mouth.  When I got back out to my car, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that the bottom half was open and was bleeding.   It was just a little over an hour since it had been done.

So I just drove back over there, but no luck, there wasn’t anyone there but 2 receptionists and one assistant.  All the doctors had left and it was hardly 3. They looked in my chart and said there were three stitches.   I told them that there were only two left.  I thought they would call the oral surgeon and ask him what they should do, but no.

The dental assistant came back with a plastic bag full of gauze and told me to keep applying pressure until the bleeding stopped.   They were pretty much heading out the door and I realized that was all the service I was going to receive.

I was thinking I wasn’t looking forward to going back this morning and getting it put back in.  Then, a couple hours later, I felt this small piece of thread in my mouth and there was another stitch.  And just a bit later, the third one came out.  So, I had a big hole in my inside lip.

This morning I got a call from the receptionist.  She told me they consulted with the doctor and he said that as long as it wasn’t bleeding, it should be fine.  I told her that all the stitches were gone and she said they could schedule me for an appointment, but it should heal fine.

Maybe all the receptionists there have went to dental school too, but I very much doubt it.  I’m not sure where she got the knowledge she passed on to me.  If it’s true, then I’m sort of unsure why he even put in stitches to start with.

Now I’m thinking about whether I should have just taken some sutures and re-stitched  it back up myself. I sort of have this “rule” that I don’t do any stitches above the shoulders.   But when I start having more confidence in my ability to stitch up my mouth than going back to an oral surgeon, something is wrong with the scenario from the start.

I’m having a hard time convincing myself that I don’t want to go back in, but I have don’t have much confidence in the place either, so it’s a catch 22.

Anyway, I didn’t sleep much last night, as I wrote earlier.  I have physical therapy for my hip at 10:15 and don’t really feel much like going.  It’s gonna be one of those days I think.

I don’t have all this stuff, but I do have some sutures that would work.

On Tuesdays, the group meets at PT after the ride to have a beer. It worked out great yesterday because of the Royals playoff game was going on simultaneously.