Protect and Serve

Sometimes I see things that just make me smile all day. 

As I was driving to work this morning, a police car parked in a lane going the other way caught my eye.  It was in the fast lane of a busy street, just on the other side of the median from me.  Odd, I thought… no accident that I could see… why would he be stopped there?

Then I saw it; there was a seagull standing right in front of the car.  The gull didn’t appear to be injured, but it also didn’t appear to be in any hurry to move.

Now, I don’t know the background story but what I’d like to think is that the gull had been causing cars to change lanes to avoid hitting it.  Somehow the cop became involved and decided to park his car there to protect the gull (and probably help the traffic flow) until either the gull flew away or someone was able to retrieve it. 

With everything crazy going on in this country and throughout the world, it did my heart good to see a policeman make the time and effort to protect a helpless bird.  People can be violent and cruel at times, but they can also display care and tenderness that demonstrates the best part of our “humanness.” 

How great it that?