Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.

I fell down today. Hard.

I was en route to the office this morning when I tripped over my own feet, something that I am prone to doing. And I fell down. Hard.

All I could think of as I was falling was the movies and sometimes how they show an accident waiting to happen in slow motion. I felt myself falling. I tried to stop myself from falling. But I fell down. Hard.

My mind was aflutter with what I should do. I banged up my knee as I was crossing a busy street in DC and all I could think about was if anyone saw me fall down. Hard.

That was actually a silly thought; after all, it was the morning rush hour and I was crossing a busy street. Of course people saw me fall. But the good news is that not one, but two people saw me fall down. Hard. A guy in a car stopped, leapt out of his car, and raced to help me. And one of my fellow pedestrians helped me scrambled to pick up the contents of my purse which littered the street.

I could have been really upset at falling down today: the embarrassment, the pain in the knee, etc. But the good news is that by falling down, I was able to see the kindness of people who were willing to help me on their way to work.