Rush hour

(Baonghean) - The ambulance blared its siren on a road with many traffic lights. It seemed that people did not pay attention to it and did not move to the side of the road. They still did their jobs: Trying to get to work, to school, to their destination as quickly as possible, right before the city's rush hour.

The ambulance seemed impatient, it was helplessly honking its siren in the middle of the bustling crowd and had no choice but to inch forward, weaving its way past each bicycle, motorbike, and car. The crowd kept moving, the vehicle kept honking, as if they were two different worlds.

Illustration: Huu Tuan

In this crowded city, people are used to it every day. They are used to vehicles climbing onto the sidewalk to get ahead because of traffic jams, they are used to speeding through intersections even though the traffic light is red, they are used to collisions and arguments, sometimes chasing each other on the road because they cannot resolve the issue. They are used to being startled when a bus suddenly stops at a bus stop. They are used to waiting for tens of minutes, even hours during rush hour. They are used to arriving late to work because of traffic jams… And they are used to seeing a fire truck or an ambulance blaring its siren on the road without ever thinking about its urgent mission.

Sometimes in life, we accidentally forget the things that always help us believe and hope. A building is on fire, someone is waiting for an ambulance, or is lying in that car and desperately needs help from people in white. It could be an old man who has slipped and fallen, a pregnant woman with a problem with her fetus, a person who has had a serious traffic accident, or anyone in critical condition. And in the car with the patient, are their family members, cutting each piece of their intestines and anxiously waiting on every meter of the road. Maybe they are crying and holding the patient's hand to spread a little warmth and love and to pray for them to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Maybe they are thinking about the worst case scenario, to the shock of themselves and their family. But every minute that is quick is a minute of hope. They never stop hoping on every stretch of road, every moment...

It is only us, carelessly walking on the road, carelessly running red lights and eventually becoming careless of their pain and hope. We do not know that just giving way a little, turning the steering wheel a little to the right, arriving at work or school a little later, can save a person. Or rather, we know but often we deliberately forget, and out of habit we no longer feel that it is a timely good deed.

Quynh An