Doing the right thing.

This morning I went to my health center, and was talking with one of the nurses when we heard this grunting-huffing sound. She gave me an inquisitive look, and I said, oh it must be one of the dogs outside (of which there are a plethora of and they´re always making strange noises of sorts fighting over food etc.) We heard it a couple other times soon thereafter and I again blew it off. I looked out the window and saw nothing. She decides to go and investigate and come to find out it was a man laying outside our window convulsing. As the nurse later told me, ¨that thump was a human body hitting the ground¨(which I didn’t hear) I felt horrible. This was something serious and I had dismissed it partly from lack of experience (It was and odd sound) partly lack of interest, and partially lack of curiosity. Now I would label myself as an interested, curious, and to a lesser extent experienced person, yet I passed on a very legitimate opportunity to do the right thing. How often do we miss opportunities like that, without even knowing? This isn´t an isolated experience either, I vaguely remember similar things, passing up on helping someone (It’s not my problem) when a small action like handing the lady vomiting on the bus a plastic bag rather than changing seats, would take little time and thought on my part, but would make a huge difference in the other persons day.

When the man was carried into the center, I went back to the nurse and told her how terrible I felt, and she just smiled and gave me a hug.