Not a long time had passed since I had learnt to ride the scooter yet I knew I was not a reckless rider. But one does not always have to be reckless to be the victim of an accident, no matter what sort of accident it is. One fine day as I was riding, my scooter stumbled on a rock and I fell down and rolled on the road, where I lay for quite a good time. I opened my eyes and saw that my scooter lying some feet away from me, conked out but in one piece. There were enough people around but no one offered to help me up even after seeing my failing attempts at getting up myself. Among others, a stout man of about 40 passed right by me and didn't even turn to respond to my call for help.My thighs were sore, and there was an aching heaviness on my body. I was crying, too. But it was not the physical pain that had made me break down, it was the insensitivity, the callousness of these passersby. That night as I lay in my bed, I kept thinking about what had happened and a line I had read somewhere kept running inside my head: "I see all humans but no humanity."
Some days prior to this incident, I had an interesting encounter with a little boy of about six. As I reached the bus stop one evening, I noticed him with ragged school dress and muddy shoes waiting for a bus. After around 40 minutes of helplessly staring at overcrowded vehicles and seeing no prospect of getting a bus home, I decided to walk. Clutching my handbag in one hand and untangling the intertwined earphones with the other, I had just taken the first few steps when something made me stop, turn around and talk to this little boy who had been waiting for the bus all alone in the cold evening.
"Are you waiting for a bus?" I asked him. The little boy looked up, but blankly stared at me. After a while, he nodded and walked away from me. I called from behind, following his little steps: "Where do you need to go?" He turned back and mentioned somewhere which was at a walking distance of 15 minutes. "I'm going the same way, you can come with me. You won't be able to get a bus at this time," I told him. But he pretended to not have heard me and kept walking ahead, without turning back. I tried to talk to him, but soon realized that it would be in vain. I let him walk alone.
One of the first lessons my mother taught me was not to talk to strangers. Every single morning before heading school, she would tell me, "If any stranger comes to talk to you, run away from him/her as fast as you can even if they pretend to know you or lure you with chocolates." The parents of that little boy must have taught him the same. Consequently, even though I was just trying to help and didn't have any malice in my heart, he rejected my offer and I cannot say he did the wrong thing. News everyday is rife with reports of unspeakable crimes, and it's only reasonable to be alert. Trust on fellow human beings has become so far-fetched an idea that we look every unknown (and even known) person with doubt.
The world we live in right now is a scary place. And so is the humankind, really. But this doesn't mean humanity is dead. There are bad people, of course, but there are also people who inspire hope. Mahatma Gandhi had once said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." I guess we need to try and see beyond the darkness and search for those rare beams that are, although hard to see, still exist.
After around seven minutes of lying on the cold, hard and grubby ground, a man came running from a distance and helped me get up; he was kind enough to bring my fallen scooter to stand as well. He even proffered to help me get back home and I couldn't have thanked him more. Amidst so many heartless strangers, this man proved that, though rare, humanity does exist.
But then if you look deeper, there are more instances of humanity. Take for example the ones with bikes and vehicles who stop and offer lifts to people waiting for public vehicles in these times of national crisis. This small gesture of help has reinstated our faith in fellow countrymen. In other parts of the world, there are countries taking in refugees and aiding war victims, fostering faith in the human race.
"This world has many kind people living in it and in case you don't find one, be one." This is another saying my fixation for quotations has made me familiar to. It highlights the fact that instead of complaining that there aren't many good people around, we should be that good person we're looking for. Hence, next time I see someone else fall, I won't wait and see if other people will go and help him/her. I will reach out to help him/her immediately because I know what it feels like when you're surrounded by people who see your pain but completely ignore it.
Priya is an undergraduate student of Business Administration at Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) in Balkumari, Lalitpur.
Related story
Gender Based Violence
