The Ambulance Is On Its Way Poem by Jim Yerman

We all heard the siren while on the road that day.
We all immediately slowed down…pulled off the road
there was an ambulance on the way.

And I thought to myself:
it isn't likely
the person hurt…
is any one we knew
but how wonderful
everyone instinctively
allowed the ambulance to go through.

We had no way of knowing if the person hurt
was black
or white,
if they were
a muslim,
a jew
or gay.
We only knew someone was in trouble
and there was an ambulance on the way.

And I wondered:
if we knew the person hurt
was black
or white,
if we knew they were gay
a muslim,
or a jew
would that have changed the way some of us reacted…
would we have still allowed the ambulance through?

And it made me long for a world where we don't care
if a person
is black
or white,
where we don't care
if they are a muslim,
a jew
or gay
A world where we treated everyone
as if
the ambulance was on its way.