Yesterday when I walked home from dinner with my family, a young man walked on the sidewalk towards me and another young woman who walked in front of me. The young man appeared drunk and under the influence of drugs, walking with his head down, stopping to take a deep breath. As the woman in front of me passed him, she asked if he was okay and he responded “No, I haven’t been okay for a long time now” and kept walking. Interestingly, the woman and I kept walking and so did he.
I wondered what the woman thought in about his answer and why she kept on walking. Naturally, I asked myself the same questions. What could I have done differently in this moment? Why didn’t we/I stop him? Would I have been able to help him?
The answer is no. This is something I’ve learned the hard way during my studies while visiting AA, NA, and OA meetings in Chicago for a class, and during my experiences as a career counselor and intern at a private practice.
I am writing about this right now; about our desire to help others and how to deal with it when we aren’t able to help them because they simply aren’t ready.
So stay yogilated and feel free to share your thoughts on this with me as well.
Happy Thursday 🙂
I think it’s nobody’s fault that the kid acted that way. There is no reason for the lady to feel bad; she is empathizing with him. The best thing we can do in such situations is that keep helping people even though they don’t appreciate our help. The world is skeptical nowadays; the idea of a person selflessly helping another person is somewhat paradoxical. The world would be a better place if people started helping other people with true heart.