Today, I was sitting in the tram, lost in my thoughts as I usually am. At a busy tram stop, a woman about 50 years old came in, and the man sitting in front of me made a movement to get up to give her his seat. The woman, however, ignored him (probably did not even see him), passed him by and I don't really know if she just sat somewhere else or not, I didn't look.
Now the man in front of me - let's call him the Samaritan - got offended, grumbling to himself, looking at the woman like saying: "I'm trying to help you here, but you won't let me!"
The story does not end here, though.
Sitting in front of him was a woman, and apparently she had something on the back of her shirt. The man, always the perfect boyscout, tipped her on the shoulder, trying to make her understand that she had something on her back and that he wanted to remove it. Let's pass the horrified look on the woman's face, another story of its own, and focus on the righteous indignation of the man when she refused his help. Grumble, grumble again.
Mr Samaritan, however, did not get discouraged from his task of finding someone to help, saving his or her day, and kept watch at every tram stop for potential people in need, until he got off the tram, unsuccessful in his search for an unspoken SOS call.
I couldn't help but wonder how someone develops such a huge "superhero complex", insisting in assisting people who don't ask for any help. And more: I couldn't stop wondering if these intentions came from a genuine wish to help or from a simple need to feel good about himself.
Am I being too cynical here?
1 comment:
Not cynical. Some of us really are just that nice. I am one of them who likes to help strangers, not because I like to feel good about myself, but because I believe that if I do something unexpected and nice for someone, it might brighten their mood and they'll do it for someone else, and so on. I think of it as my little part of making the world a better place. That said, I do not go out looking for people to help who don't look like they need/want it! This guy is a bit too much :)
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