I don’t live in a city, it’s just a town like any other. I don’t feel surrounded by masses of people or feel inferior or lost because it is in no way a concrete jungle, but saying that, it’s still easy to get lost in your own thoughts when you’re flying around doing a few things by yourself. Today was one of those days, like any other dull day in January. The weather was gloomy and the pavements were wet but I had a few things to pick up and was completely in a world of my own as I ran in and out of shops, passing dozens of faces I honestly couldn’t remember now because I was probably too absorbed in my phone, panicking about the state my new boots would be in when I got back to the car, and fixing my hair which I scrunch dried yesterday. To be honest, I was being completely self-involved and ignorant about everything else around me.
While coming out of the last shop I was going to, an elderly lady was blocking the door, looking a bit lost. ‘Sorry, excuse me!’ I said before squeezing past her. I began to walk away back to the car when I was stopped by her quiet, timid voice – ‘Excuse me, can you please help me cross?’ I walked back over to her and asked her what she wanted my help with ‘Would you like me to help you cross the road?’ I questioned. ‘Yes please, I need to get over there.’ she replied, pointing across the road. I agreed to help her cross the road and she linked my arm. A few moments later when we arrived, after a short discussion about the weather, I asked where she was going and she told me she was fine from now on. She then proceeded to thank me and continued on her way, as I did the same, walking in opposite directions across town, leaving each others lives after a short lived, yet refreshing encounter.
This story isn’t anything overly dramatic, it won’t make it into my children’s school history books and it will happen over and over again with different people in different locations, but the reason I’m writing about it is because while I was stressing about exams I have to study for, worrying about the condition of my hair, contemplating my next Instagram post and getting lost in my general life dramas that really aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things, there was a lady among the many I passed today that just needed two minutes out of somebody’s day to make it to the other side of the road, and if that’s not a reason to start opening up our eyes to the little things in life then I don’t know what is.
