This is the true story of my week:
Tuesday – We came home to find a strange cat in our front yard pursuing a baby bunny.  We shooed the cat away and I caught the bunny.  It was not harmed but was vulnerable on our lawn.  I put it in the field next to our house in the high grass for protection.  
Baby Peter Rabbit, saved it from the mean cat.
Wednesday – I was running with a group of about 15 from Fleet Feet Tulsa when we saw a small bird in the street up ahead. We assumed it was dead or would fly off but it did not move as we came upon it, we had to yell out to everyone to watch out.  We ran and jumped right over it.  We could see that it was alive.  On our way back I crossed the street, picked up the bird and placed it under a tree in a yard.
Baby bird as I set it on the lawn.
Thursday – My daughter woke me up from a dead sleep at 2 am.  There was a baby frog on her window sill, under her AC unit upstairs in her bedroom.  I got out of bed, got the frog and put it out in our front yard.  I was actually rescuing my daughter from the frog more than the frog from anything particularly dangerous.

Baby Kermit before we set it free outside.
Saturday – I was a course marshal for the Jenks Aquarium 1/2 marathon in Tulsa.  I was stationed at mile 8.  A woman came up to me and asked if she could get back to the start by going straight down Harvard Avenue. I told her no, the quickest way was the Creek Trail she had just taken.  She started to cry. I asked her what was the matter and she said, “This is my first 5k.”  She had gotten mixed up and started the 1/2 marathon instead and was 5 miles OVER the distance she would have run for her 5k.  I lent her my phone and she called her husband, who came and got her.
Jennifer Lebeda – runner of the longest 5k EVER!
Click here to read her story of the race.
Sunday – We were sitting in All Souls Unitarian Church listening to the sermon when the fire alarm went off.  We all got up and those towards the front went out to the garden on the side of the sanctuary.  I noticed a frail elderly woman 3 pews ahead of us. I gave her my arm, assisted her outside and found a bench for her to sit on (I didn’t get a photo of her).  My wife did the same thing for another woman.

What do they all have in common?  Their plight was brought to my attention in some way.  With the bunny there was was an actual attack taking place right in front of me.  With the bird, it was right in our path, we couldn’t have avoided it if we wanted.  With the frog, it was brought to my attention in a very definitive way by my daughter’s distressed voice next to my bed.  With Jennifer, she asked for help otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to tell she was in distress. In the case of the elderly lady, it was the only instance among the five where it had anything to do with me paying attention to something not particularly obvious.  All the rest grabbed my attention and I responded.


When you need help, do you make sure you are letting people know it?  Are you looking out in the world to see who else might be signaling in some way that they need help?



Drawing, photos and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 1926-2011, Indian guru


One year ago today at The Napkin Dad Daily – Choir member partially submerged – I draw in church