Get beyond the tick-tock

Tick tock, tick tock. Sometimes that can describe everyday life. But we have to get beyond that in our writing.
Here's an example. A writer in Illinois once did a magazine article on a country doctor. He spent some time with him and went out with him on all his calls. One of them was a tragic situation in which a man was cutting down a tree and the tree fell on his leg, trapping him. As friends tried to get the tree off of him, someone called the doc because he was the closest medical help.
The doctor and writer rushed to the scene. As they got closer, the doc began honking his car horn repeatedly. When he arrived, he treated the man as best he could until an ambulance arrived. When the episode was over and the doctor and writer were headed home, the writer recalled how the doctor had honked his horn. "Were you doing that to make it sound like an ambulance siren so you could get there faster?," asked the writer.
"No," said the old doc. "I did it because people in that much pain often think they're going to die and it's important for them to hear the horn and know help is on the way. It gives them hope." Wow.
The writer's magazine subject was a country doctor. But his story was much more than that - it was about wisdom, insight and experience - things not found in medical bag. That's getting beyond the tick tock.