Moments Of Life

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erikah21.4 K9 months agoPeakD6 min read

The whole thing started about two weeks ago, when I wanted to enter the supermarket and had no token to unlock a trolley. I was standing in front of the trolleys, looking into my wallet hopelessly, when an old lady approached me and handed me over a yellow, plastic token. Most of the days that piece of plastic is worthless, but when you need it, it worth quite a lot, which was the case on the day in question. At first I didn't want to take it as I could have just gone inside and ask for some change at the cashier, but the nice lady insisted, telling me she has several of those, so I had no other choice but to accept it. It was an act of kindness on her behalf, she paid attention to what was happening around her and rushed to help me out in an awkward situation. Most of the people forget about it the minute they enter the supermarket, but I couldn't. It meant a lot to me and most likely I will remember the scene for some time on.

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The next day I went to a fair, which turned out to be rather disappointing, poorly organized, so after four minutes I decided to leave. That was when an old lady approached me and asked if I speak English. "Yes, I do" I said and asked her How can I help? Turned out her and her husband wanted to visit the museum, where the fair was held, but the door was locked, they speak neither Romanian nor Hungarian and they didn't know who to turn to. So I went on and found the museum lady and stayed with them till they bought the tickets, shared a few important information with them as I knew the museum well. They were both very grateful and happy they could finally start exploring the beauty of the museum.

While I was walking towards my destination was thinking, was this kind of pay it forward? I mean the kindness I got from the old lady, the day before. Whatever it was, I was happy and considered myself lucky, to have given the chance to help. This is a thing for me already, whenever I see foreigners, I always stop to see if they need help and step in whenever help is needed. I got help countless times while abroad, from total strangers, I know what it means and want to help whenever I can because that's the right thing to do.

A couple of days later I was at the grocery store, doing my usual shopping and on my way to the cashier, I saw two old ladies, trying to scan a product, to check the price. Poor ladies were holding the product to the display, not to the scanning area. No wonder the scanner didn't want to work. How can you not help in cases like this? So I took the product from her hand and scanned it. You should have seen their faces, it lit up instantly and I got two big smiles and a river of appreciation words. It took me 5 seconds to help them, maybe contributed to selling the product and solving their problem, as well as showed them how to use the scanner.

This week I was at the same grocery store, buying bottled water, as always, when I saw an old lady looking at the top shelf at the water section. I took what I always buy when it comes to water, and she was still standing there, looking at the top shelf, so I asked her if I can help in any way. Poor lady, she told me she'd like a bottle from the top shelf, but could not reach it. She managed to knock it down, but was still not close enough to grab it. It was super easy for me to get two bottles for her, which I did immediately and asked her if I can help with other things as well. Again, a river of appreciation words followed and a big smile.

These are moments, that happen in our life every now and then. I'm not the superstitious or the overthinking type, to look for connections between cases or to build theories, about why it happens or why not, or what it means. I do these things for others when it is needed, then forget about them as I focus on what I have to do next. This is normal to me and how it should be in my opinion. But I don't forget the kindness I get from others. Those acts stay printed in my memory for awhile.

Then today, while curating, I came across a post by @peacious, in which I read that the bus sank into a pothole filled with water and people offered to help, for money. 😳 This is shocking, to say the least.

Last year a car accident happened where my dad lives. It was 3am, freezing drizzle, the road was slippery and a young couple, in a hurry to get to the airport, ended up with their car upside down in the ditch. Those who lived closest to the scene, hurried out to help, brought warm clothes, tea as well and hosted them till help arrived. This is what you do when someone is in trouble.

Life is not always a bed of roses and you see all kinds of people, reacting to things in a different way. Some help without hesitation, while others remain indifferent.

Hive is not any different. (Why would it be different, right?) There are users who are constantly working on helping others and there are users who are constantly working on helping themselves and themselves only.

I'm wondering how much effort it takes to pay attention to what's happening around you and give a helping hand to those in need? Life is hard enough as it is, no need to make it harder. We can change a lot with small gestures and most of the time help does not involve money.

You have a choice to choose in which team you are. It depends exclusively on you and it's never too late to change.

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