Acts of Random Kindness
1979...5 hour train ride to visit my folks back home....traveling at night ... just got off of work...train almost empty but a middle aged woman with a young child happens to be in my same train compartment...
Photo-credit from Pixabay.com
At a certain point the child complains of not feeling well... the lady and child leave for a period of time.... 20 minutes later they rush back into the compartment in a panic...the child had just vomited ...the nefarious event took place in the corridor, just outside the bathroom door....what should she do ?...help me please...I don't speak the language and I don't know what to do....she says...
So this 18 year old kid gets up and looks for the train conductor...
Surprisingly after having heard the details of the event, he callously says it is not his problem, there's nothing he can do, but it better get cleaned up...
I relay the message to the panic- stricken woman....she practically goes into hysterics...
Feeling sorry...I decide to clean up the mess myself....nothing heroic in that...nurses clean up after strangers all the time, and probably don't even get thanked ....
At least I got thanked!
Not many of us get the chance to do something so heroic it makes it into the media, so it's actually the small, seemingly insignificant acts of kindness that really add up. I'm not sure why the mother wasn't capable of cleaning up the mess herself, as the language barrier should have no bearing on that, but it sounds like, for whatever reasons she was in a state of hysteria. That day, you stepped in and made a difference to that mother and child. Heroes don't always rescue people from raging rivers or burning buildings---sometimes they just clean up a mess with no expectation of glory or reward. Good job
Thanks for your kind words....
Well that was pretty big of you nonetheless. Most people would not have blinked an eye or given a care to assist the mother in that situation. It simply shows what type of person you are - keep being that person. It is admirable! Really!
I would like to believe that I would have done precisely the same thing, but I am not sure how well my stomach would have handled it. lol
Emergency situations can sometimes make one do amazing things without even blinking an eye....or thinking before acting
What you did doesn't make you heroic, it means your a nice, kind person. We need more people like that. If more people were willing to perform little random acts of kindness, it would make life easier, people would be happier and the world would be in a better way. Well done.
Thank you...I agree that we all need to become nicer...it would make things easier, wouldn't it?
Such a great story! It's very nice of you that you helped her, I can understand how bad you feel after that and if you don't speak the language, it makes everything more difficult to figure out what to do... But at least she could communicate with you and the 18 year old guy :) it's an awesome feeling when you have the chance to help other people!
It does definitely make you feel good...happiness is indeed in giving...
That is a very selfless thing to do. I have travelled to other countries and felt out of my depth in an emergency.
The help of a stranger who speaks the language is priceless in that situation. I wish I could find the hotel staff member who helped me out to thank them properly.
Yes, I also know what it feels like and the feeling of panic when one doesn't speak the language....
Sometimes people they know how to do good thing because it is a human nature but they deny to do it for many circumstances. Good work @lellabird60
Thanks...yeah, sometimes you need the courage to act on your instinct
There's something heroic in that, anyway! :D
Not really....just acting on instinct....
Grande @lellabird60! Molto altruista :-)
(Sorry my italian is better than my english)
Anche in Italiano va bene....but your English is excellent!!...Grazie per il commento....
you're freaking kind!
just the stench of it would make it hard to breathe
kudos!
We're all human....I think I would have wanted help if the shoe had of been on the other foot...
Things like this hapand but every person react diferent . Seems you are one of thoses who will always try to help , thry to relax , try to do something good :) Dont change i know the world is not nice place for good people , ignorance and negativity is so much easy task to get , but we wont be like this !
So true...it' easier to pretend not to see and to not care...