But I never stop. Because really, there is absolutely nothing I could possibly do. I just drive by with the rest of the cars on the road and I feel so bad.
On the first day of class I was walking along, just doing my own thing, headed toward the TSC. This lady came out of the building and it was obvious that she was blind. One, because she was carrying a blind person stick. But listen to this. Usually blind people have this unnatural sense of direction OR they have someone to guide them. This lady had neither.
So I watched as she first ran into the brick wall, then the snow, then the bench. Every time she would run into something, she would just quickly turn like 45 degrees and proceed at the same fast pace.
I thought to myself, "What the crap, she has no idea where she is going!"
As I passed her, heading toward the TSC door, I suddenly pictured the car I passed at the side of the road last night. BAAAHHHH.
Fine.
So I turned around, as my conscious directed me, and said to the lady, "Can I help you get somewhere?"
No response.
Maybe she doesn't know I'm talking to her? Because, after all, she cannot see that I am looking at her.
So I tapped her arm and said, "Mam? Do you need help getting somewhere?"
Absolutely NO response! Sooooo. . . she was blind and deaf?!
I have no idea.
But let me tell you, it was quite the awkward rejection. I felt stupid.
I just stopped and watched her walk off to some unknown destination and then turned back around and went into the TSC.
Even though it was a total failure, don't you think it was semi cool?! Despite the awkward embarrassedishness I felt, it was still awesome! I have never done that before. I have never been the one person to do something. There were a bunch of other people around, just like me, but I was the one who helped.
It felt good. I would definitely do it again.
If you haven't, you should read this: http://www.danoah.com/2010/11/small-side-of-numbers.html
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've been thinking about this exact same thing a lot lately. I really really wish that I was the kind of person to stop and help people, but I'm not. Except I'm working on it. Just before Christmas I was walking behind this old lady who was struggling to carry a cooler full of water, so I asked her if I could help her carry it. It felt so great! We definitely need to do these things more often.
The lady he helped is someone I have tested before. She called me up to get a fresh bottle of drops after the accident and told me about it and the guy who stopped to help. Pretty cool. Definitely worth reading his post. Gives you something to think about.
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