Big cities. Everyone who lived in big cities seem to be relatively busy and caught up in their own little world, when walking in the streets on their mind they only keep yh iand specified desrination and make their ways through the crowd as they’re emerged in their smartphones equipped with music, Pokemon go, the newest fashions, snapchat, and frankly, our lives.
While in San Francisco I noticed people, well their actions for the most part. Not in a creepy stalker way, but the way in which I observed people interacting with one another. And actually, they rarely interact with one another until their destination is reached.
Over the past few days I’ve done plenty of walking and ran into situations which astonished me. For example, the other day walking to the botanical garden as I was crossing a busy intersection, a mother with an infant and a toddler dropped her wallet and phone which sprawled a plethora of receipts, credit cards, and money into the street. There was maybe 10 more feet to cross and a few seconds left until the light turns green, many people walked by but I vent to the ground and picked up the sprawled items with the toddler before the wind could blow them away (it’s freakishly windy out here). The mother, hands full with the infant and stroller, thanked me and the toddler smiled at me. As I was walking away I couldn’t stop smiling… Well I normally smile a lot when I see kids anyways because they’re so adorable but there’s no way to describe the feeling. Words are just not enough sometimes.
A smaller scale incident yesterday occurred. We went to the public library and I guess everyone was in a rush but no one seemed to stop to hold the door for one another and I saw it slam into one person after another. My family had already gone in but I waited and ended up holding the door for several people. If people had kept on coming out I probably would’ve been there for hours holding that door. People seemed a bit shocked and genuinely happy/ thankful that I was willing to do that small thing. Not to say that no one in big cities is kind, or holds doors for one another, but it just seems that many people are so wrapped up in themselves and where they need to be that they sometime shutoff the world.
Then we went to the crookedest street in the world. The hike was treacherous, the hill made my calves burn, and the streets were crowded with tourists. When we got up the hill many people were climbing on top of things to take a picture of the downward slope view. As we approached I noticed an elderly lady trying to get down… And no one was helping her! She reminded me of one of my friends I made when I volunteered at the nursing home the last few years so I helped her down. She didn’t speak English but she smiled at me so I took it as a thanks. While I looked at the view her family stared at me with smiles. It could’ve went one of two ways: they thought I was a psychotic person or a really kind person. (Let’s hope it’s the second one.)
Anyways, the point is that your life is never too busy to stop and help others. No matter where you live, what your occupation is, or who you’re with. Doing things that are kind will make you happier. Don’t expect anything in return for what you do. You don’t always have to be repayed by the people you do good for. You’ve already gained from your kind experiences. You yourself have built better character and purpose for your existence by being beneficial to someone other than yourself. I believe we’re all here to help one another and in doing so the world will be heading one more step in the right direction.
khirstyn 