How To Save A Life

November 2nd, 2006

I just drove over 10 hours during a 28 hour span (I had an amazing time speaking to the folks at the New Hampshire Library Association) and heard “How To Save A Life” around 10 times on various radio stations. The first time I heard it was in the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy a few months back, but reeally didn’t “get” the lyrics until today.

So beautiful.

“As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you’ve followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he’ll say he’s just not the same
And you’ll begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life”

This reminds me of a moment I had during the Race For the Cure last weekend.

We were driving back to my cousins when I realized that my dad had Ari’s formula bottle with him. We arranged to meet up in the only place I could fathom. Right in front of the tent area (it was really crowded, but it was the easiest place to meet).

When we pulled up to the area, a man in a bus started yelling at me to move my car because there were buses that were coming to transport people back to their cars. I explained that I was just going to be a second and needed to pick up a formula bottle for my son, who at this point was hungry and crying. The guy proceeded to yell at me, said he didn’t care, and told me that he was going to call the police, who were directing traffic. I told the guy to have some compassion and he just repeated his threat. I then told him to call the cop over, so that I could get him off my back. When the officer arrived, I told him that I would be gone for 20 seconds to pick up food my son and pointed him to my fathers waving hands in the distance. He took one look at me and said, “Do what you have to do”.

I got the bottle and ran back to car, hopped in, and fed my son as Barbie took off down the road.

This song reminds me that, as parents, we need to advocate for our children and not stop until we do everything in our power to “save” and protect them. We are all they have, especially if they are as young as Ari and Hallie.

The funny thing is that when I told my dad about advocating for Ari, he told me that he was advocating for me in trying to get me the formula for his grandson and wouldn’t stop until I had the bottle in my hand.

I used to work with the mentally ill as a case worker and advocated for them on a daily basis in helping them deal with others that stereotyped and/or didn’t understand them. I hope I made a difference.

On a professional note, I think there is something important to note about advocating about our clients, whether they be lawyers, children, parents, seniors, etc. we need to whatever we can to make sure that we service them to the best of our ability. Patron advocacy should be extremely important in librarianship.

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