A Call Out

I was thinking of a call out I went on one night.  Dispatch had called me and asked me to go to a motel on St. George Blvd.  The Police were waiting for me.  So, I got dressed and out I went.  When I got to the motel there were cruisers everywhere.  I thought to myself, wow, what the hell happened?  Anyway, I was escorted up to a room, and when I entered my heart broke.  The small room was serving as a apartment.  The family was living with all of their belongings stacked against walls, parents in the bed and children sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags.  Hardly any room to move.  The children and a friend were trying to calm down a woman who was hysterical sitting on the bed.  She had been thrown around the room by her husband who had lost it about something.  Her neck was hurt and she complained about her arm hurting her.  So I had the police get her to the hospital.  After she was admitted into emergency, I went into her room to talk to her about what happened.  She was still hysterically crying.  Her head was hurting because she had been crying so much.  No matter what I said, she wasn't calming down.   The doctor came in to examine her, so I ducked out.  I found a corner and said a small prayer.  Please God help me help her.  In an instant a memory went through me of times when I've cried like that, needing comfort and not getting it.  What did I need at those times.  Then I heard the words, stroke her head.  The doctor left and I went in and started stroking her hair and forehead.  All the while murmuring to her that it was all gonna be ok.  She was so hurt that her husband would actually do that to her.  I kept stroking her head, massaging her head, and little by little she started to calm down, her headache went away, and I could finally start to reason with her and talk.  Afterwards, when I finally was able to go home, and as I drove up to my home, I thought to myself, thank you God for all my blessings.  My humble home looked like a palace, peaceful, clean and roomy.  My bills were paid, I had a job, a car that worked.  I knew that the family was going thru extreme hard times, that the husband had just lost it from stress and probably shame that his family had to live that way.  I'm not saying that it's ok, just a reason.  My hope is that life has improved for them.  I hope, I hope....