A couple months ago – in January I believe, it was pretty cold and harsh. I was running a few errands at the grocery store that is pretty close to me and was on my way home, just leaving the parking lot of the store. I saw a lady walking along with a bag of groceries.
I checked to be sure it was a lady – and I stopped and offered her a lift. Turned out she didn’t live very much further down the road from me and was ever so grateful for the ride on a bitter cold day. It was a small but easy thing to do – something I’d hope someone might do for me if I had to walk on a cold day carrying a heavy bag.
As it turned out I had the opportunity to do this again the next week for another woman. She, too was very grateful and we had a nice chat for the 5 minutes I had her in the car. Both these ladies lived fairly near to me, so they were, in truth my neighbors and I was glad I could help them out.
I think too often we are afraid to do little things like this, but the times that I have, it’s turned out to be a good thing and I’m happy I reached out.
Pam
Overcoming the fear of what you might “look like” or whether you might be rejected (or yes, worse, I know), is a big part of adding deposits to the Universal Bank of Kindness™. Thanks Pam, for taking that step.
In these types of instances my fear isn’t of how I’ll look or of even being rejected – it’s more that thing of not knowing the person – they could somehow be “dangerous” or something. I have to admit as a woman alone I would not do this for a man – though in most cases that would probably, in truth, be fine -but you just need to exercise caution anyway. And I’m sure there is a possibility a woman could pose as much threat as a man, have a weapon etc. but it doesn’t seem as likely or as dangerous. I hate that we have to think that way – but I try to use logic and my gut feelings in combination to assess any given situation and see what things seem reasonable to do… these cases it turned out right to trust my own better judgement. I’m much more comfortable reaching out to offer assistance unasked than when someone unfamiliar approaches me with a plea for help – and I have to wonder if it’s for real or an angle.
I totally understand Pam…there is always a risk involved and I believe your gut feelings are one of thing it is important to trust. Absolutely! I’ve done both (in fact, shocked the bejeebers out of someone when I took them by the hand, went into a store, purchased what they needed then took them home (to a not-so-nice area of town). It just felt right and like the right thing to do. Don’t know if I would always do that tho!