It was This American Life 402: Save the Day. I turned the radio on to try to catch the news, because I didn't really know the correct time and I wanted to go out to the beach. But instead, I was rooted to the floor, not even able to sit while I listened to the story of a man who tracked down two allegedly kidnapped children in Mexico. He tried to offer his services to the proper authorities, but when that failed, he took on the effort himself. He left his wife and child and went to MEXICO to look for children he had never met. And when he did what no one thought he could - locate them - it didn't turn out the way he anticipated. He didn't feel the way he thought he would. He didn't have the same perception of the situation that he had at first. Reality shifted and he was rattled.
I love the idea that what we think we're doing, what we think we're looking for, is never really what the universe intends. I felt empathy for the lesson this man learned, while at the same time wondering what I would have done in his place. What compels us to help others when common sense says it's none of our business? What makes an ordinary man, extraordinary? Real questions that lingered long after the story wrapped and I walked out to sit on the sand.
