On risking one's life to rescue a goose

Photo by Rebecca Peterson-Hall on Unsplash

What kind of world rewards a man trying to save a goose’s life by running him over with a truck?

Our kind of world, apparently.

This actually happened Tuesday outside Elgin. You may have heard about it.

Rateb Arqan, 59, of West Chicago, got out of his car because he saw a goose wandering around the pavement on St. Charles Street. With the goose in his arms, he was clobbered by a guy in a work truck. The goose died, too.

I know most people are probably thinking, “Why risk your life for a Canada goose? They’re a dime a dozen, and they poop all over the place.

“At 59, you’re old enough to know better.”

Coming to the rescue of a goose on a highway is, after all, something that a 10-year-old might more likely do than an adult wise in the ways of the world. But that's what makes it very significant for a man Mr. Arqan’s age to do it.

The things we did when we were 10 are probably better than most of the things we do as adults. 

At 10, I turned over rocks to see what lived under them. I walked my next-door neighbor’s dog for free because I liked dogs.

I climbed tall cottonwood trees just so I could see things that were far away, and feel the different kind of wind that blew far above the Earth. I shined my father’s shoes once a week, because he worked hard, and it was something I could do for him. I tied his bowling shoes because it was easier for me to do it than it was for him, and because it showed the other bowlers that somebody cared that much about him.

All the kids on the block would wash the family car, if the family had a car. We would put playing cards in the spokes of our bikes. We’d whittle.

And we would rescue wounded birds and rabbits and other creatures and try to restore them to health. Sometimes our parents would see, and they might be inspired to again view life through the clear eyes of a child.

And when we went to bed at night – and after we had read comic books by flashlight under the covers – we would close our eyes and immediately fall asleep. It was the unworried, peaceful sleep of the innocent.

The things I did as an adult that I’m most proud of are the things that would have seemed the obvious choices as a little boy.

Sometimes I helped people who were sick or injured or in trouble. I gave my coat to a man who was cold. I laid down a stranger’s injured dog in my car and drove him to the vet. These are the kinds of things that we’ve all done that are childlike but make our lives well-lived, looking back.

Mr. Arqan’s last act may have been something childish. But maybe he was a better man than the grownup who was likely diligently heading to a job, who never even saw the bird and the man in the road before he hit them. 

If he had the same childlike heart as Mr. Arqan, he would have seen.

If we all still had the hearts of children, just think of the things we would see every day. Think of what the world would be like.