6-18-09 Outside of Class Experience

I have contemplated for a week what I was going to post for my out of class experiences. I was going to write about the movie "He's Just Not That Into You", but felt like I would save that for next week instead of posting 2 for this week.
Tuesday after I left class I headed to Peoria. If you don't know, I manage a bar/restaurant until the end of this month (then I'm unemployed, YUCK). I was driving down University headed to GFS, preoccupied with the mini book club discussions, when the light turned red at Lake and University. I stopped at the light along with everybody else. Just as the light turned green, a mini van in the other lane opened their side door. Then the suv 3 cars ahead opened their driver's door and a woman got out. The woman in the car behind the suv got out too. The mini van quickly closed the door and proceeded to drive forward. Because there was another car in front of me and cars approaching behind us, I was stuck watching this scene unfold. The woman from the suv appeared to be in her 50's with early graying hair. The woman from the car was younger, appearing to be somewhere in her early 30's. They met between the vehicles and began talking. Of course from my perspective I couldn't hear what they were saying, but you could clearly see that they were assessing the damage to both vehicles. By the time they were done, the car in front of me had pulled into the other lane and it was now clear for me to pull over and pass the ladies too. They obviously ascertained that there was no damage to either vehicle, because neither was on the phone calling the police to report it. As I was passing them, the ladies hugged. If I had been in mid conversation, I would have been struck speachless.
Never in my life have I ever been witness to such an event. The idea that as a result of this slight fender bender, two women connected with such compassion to hug at the conclusion. Probably because I had been thinking of my short story "Last Requests" before this, my thoughts returned to it and specifically of Maggie.
One of the questions I posed to each group was if they thought she was egotistical and thought she was better than everyone else. Most people in the class disagreed with me and said they thought she showed great compassion to make sure the last meals were everything that the inmates wanted. After seeing the compassion of these strangers who were standing in the middle of University near lunch time hugging I began to really see Maggie differently.
My original thoughts of her were that she was a contradiction. On one had she explained to Jean, her neighbor, that the inmates deserved whatever they wanted and it was her job or obligation to see that they got it. The other was that she would participate in making fun of the inmates spelling and judge them on what their meal choices were.
In the end she wasn't prepared for seeing the Califlower Cheese returned untouched. Before that she would prepare the meals and then leave for the night. When she returned in the morning the plates would be scraped clean, leaving the impression that the inmate ate it. It shows a lot of respect from the wardens for her that they never told her who ate the food and who didn't.
Like Maggie and the inmates, the ladies from the accident didn't know each other, but found a way to connect through unlikely means. Each of these women displayed unsolicited compassion towards each other. I can only hope that every time I am offered a chance to make an impact like them that I see it for what it is, and not miss the opportunity to touch someone else's life.