On Saturday night, we took a different route to dinner through the neighborhood. That’s a polite way of saying I missed the first turn. As we slowed to a stop under the streetlight at a very dark four way stop, a big golden lab stepped into the street in front of our car. 

As the other cars and a biker navigated around the dog waiting patiently in the middle of the street, my girlfriend and I pulled into a parking spot. She was out of the car before I had it in park. He walked right up to her, tail-wagging. Add that to the list of reasons I love that human: even the dogs can sense how big her heart is. 

For about an hour, we tried to find his home. We asked neighbors if they recognized him. Called friends that lived nearby. Posted on lost and found sites. We even asked the dog to take us home. He didn’t take us anywhere. He was just happy to be with people that had treats. 

When it started to rain, we scooped him into my backseat and took him to our house. He laid right down and hopped out when we parked at home. It clearly wasn’t his first car ride. Once we got this puppy inside, we could see the extent of his injuries. Large patches of very dry skin. Blood from scratching under his armpits. Regardless of all of it, he just laid there and let us pet him. Stared at us lovingly. It was obvious to me this dog was deeply loved by someone at some point. 

Later that night, our city’s animal welfare came to pick him up and get some medical care at the shelter. We went to visit him on Tuesday. He’s already doing much better and we have a few friends interested in adopting him. 

I’m still thinking about this sweet dog. The fact that no one stopped to help him that night - or many nights before. This wasn’t day one of being cold and hungry for this sweet boy. 

The optimists among us keep saying we can “lean on each other” and “we’ll get through everything together,” but the reality is that there are things (and animals) that still get ignored. Good intent doesn’t always translate from inspirational posts to practice. 

So many people in this world look right past moments that require someone to stand up, just like they drove past this dog. I know why. I’ve done it, too. It’s so easy to attach ourselves to the comfort of containment. To focus on taking care of ourselves in the chaos that is living.  

But what the world needs right now is for people to pull over. 

I know we’re a little early for resolutions, but my family made one this week - one I hope you’ll adopt, too. Every weekend, we’re just going to try to do 1 thing for our community. It could be as simple as sharing a post about voting, taking towels to the local animal shelter, or spending the day volunteering. But we’re going to do at least 1 deed every week. Because when I tell people they can lean on me, it means I take action. It’s not just an Instagram post. 

Going into the next 4 years, it’s more important than ever that our values take the form of actions. That we do what we set out to. That we take action when we see a need - even if it’s just to ask “are you ok?” That we stop and pull over to help.