Sometimes you stumble upon something on social media that strikes a chord with you. The St. Louis County Rescue Squad shared a story along with a simple reminder late Tuesday night that did just that for me.

It's a story of an accident they recently encountered which ended in tragedy. If that weren't bad enough for the rescuers to face, they also had to deal with an approaching vehicle whose driver showed zero empathy for what may be happening.  It's shocking someone could be so self absorbed, especially under these circumstances.

Here is the full story, as shared on the St. Louis County Rescue Squad Facebook page:

 Recently we worked a devastating accident where the patient, despite our best efforts, didn't make it. Rescuers gave the driver every shot in the world...it was one of quickest extrications many had ever seen, and the medics pulled out every trick in the book to save a life.
Some people are injured badly enough to die.
The accident was such that we had to shut the road down. Some wrecks are like that. So this car drives up to the traffic crew on one end, its driver absolutely irate that they had to detour out of their way "for just a car accident." After some unkind words were levied, the driver cackled like the witch from the Wizard of Oz and sped off down the detour.
Now our folks are pretty quick on their feet, and when greeted with snark can dish it right back, but the crew was so astounded by the depth of this callous display of cruelty they were struck speechless.
Friends, when a roadblock of reds and blues and a human holding a wand disrupts your drive home, cut 'em some slack, eh? For you, it's a five-minute detour. For the victim in this case it's death, and total catastrophe for their family. For the dispatchers, it's a night spent trying to compose images to go with the radio broadcasts...and failing at it. For the officers, it's a drive to a house, a knock on a door, and a notification they dread to make. For the rescuers and medics, it's a fitful night of vivid dreams...maybe a nightmare...and two days (or longer) of smells they can't get out of their noses and sights they can't get out of their brains.
When called upon to fight, fight fiercely. The rest of the time, be nice...and most of the time, we can BE nice! Thanks for tagging along while we spun a yarn. Be safe out there eh?
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 Being nice to one another is so simple and yet so many seem to fail at this most basic task. I admit, there are times I'm in a hurry or get stressed with things in my life which leads me to act toward others in a way that I later regret.

Reading this is a great reminder that keeping things in perspective and realizing that everyone is struggling with something is so important.

My heart goes out to the family of life lost and to the rescuers who did everything they could to change the outcome. Hopefully, the rude driver at some point realized the error of their ways and will become a better person for it moving forward.

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