I admit it- I’m an ambulance chaser.
Or at least I was today.
As I was pulling up to the Carthage campus this afternoon, I saw a fire truck turning into the north entrance off of Sheridan Road, with lights flashing and siren wailing. For a moment I thought about altering my course and following it, but decided that campus drive is too narrow for gapers and I might very likely get stranded or stuck. So I continued on my merry way to the middle entrance and found a parking place right outside of the music building. As I got out of my car, I took two steps towards Campus Drive, thinking that I would walk north and see if there was anything to look at- but then decided to be mature and responsible and head on down to my office and get some work done.
Suddenly, I heard another siren – this one coming from the south – and as it got closer and closer, it made this look like something significant. And within moments, the ambulance was making its way up Campus Drive, flights flashing and the whole nine yards – and I took off after it.
Actually, I didn’t run after it – I walked as professorially as I could manage, as though I had something to take care of in the registrar’s office or some such weighty matters. I even slowed my pace a bit, thinking that I would give the rescue squad a few moments to deal with whatever situation was there. But the whole time, I’m thinking – “Did a professor collapse?” (There are many faculty offices in the building.) “An adminstrator?” “Or might there be a small fire of some kind?” Or in a somewhat lighter vein, “did a student buying textbooks faint dead away when told what their total bill was?” I’m mulling over a wide range of possibilities – and it only slowly dawns on me that I’m thinking about them with not a shred of genuine concern but with the shallow curiosity of a gawker. And I’m an Assistant Professor at a fine college, chasing after an ambulance the day before the semester begins.
As it turns out, a Carthage employee (maybe a maintenance worker) suffered a very serious nosebleed – but walked out of there on his own two feet, appearing to be okay. And I walked out of there really embarrassed at my conduct. I think this is a gene which I inherited from my mother, although she didn’t chase after ambulances but was known to drive across town to look at storm damage or the aftermath of a fire. We even drove down to Oelwein to look at tornado damage. The difference is that I think my mom had a more admirable balance between plain old curiosity and godly concern for the suffering and displaced – while my balance seems skewed away from Albert Schweitzer and close to “Caught On Tape.” And someday if and when I’m on the receiving end of great misfortune and I spy someone on the curb, gawking or taking pictures, I will have to withhold my withering glares.
pictured above: the ambulance on its way up Campus Drive towards Lentz Hall.