Read the original message and first four descending comments before they scroll off.

humanity.

Seven years ago my daughter came into this world in a very traumatic fashion at Baptist Hospital West in Knoxville.  Her birth required emergency surgery as her umbilical cord gave way and she started bleeding.  She lost half her blood volume in a matter of minutes, her heart stopped and she was without oxygen for over 5 minutes.  Thank goodness we were in a great hospital with great emergency staff or I would have likely ended up childless and a widower!!

My wife and I had only been in Knoxville for a couple of years and we hadn't developed any close relationships with anyone, just casual acquaintances.  Now, here I was at the hospital, my wife was unconscious from the surgery and I had a little girl who doctors doubted would survive the night.  I had no family and no "friends" nearby.  I needed someone to be with me so I called a guy I knew from a rec league basketball team we played on together.  He came and spent the entire night with me,  shuttling me back and forth between Children's Hospital where my daughter had been taken and Baptist Hospital.  This was a guy I hardly knew at the time except casually through conversations after our practices.  All sorts of other people came forward to assist us, most whom I didn't know.  This event changed me in a positive way.  My faith in the goodness of humanity was restored.  Sure, there are evil people in this world and the News does a great job pointing them out but they are far outnumbered by the people who will bend over backwards to help, even if you are a stranger.

The strange thing about life is there are all sorts of people who will help you in an instant, who have skills, knowledge or who know someone who knows the right person who will go out of their way to assist.  The VS and other boards like this are just another community where this takes place.  You never know which poster or lurker is out there who has these skills or knowledge, but they are there and Chemosabes experience linked above is just another example!  God bless you all!!