As I left Cardiff last week on my way to Leicester, I wanted to discover the walking route to the Cardiff central train station. I normally catch the inner city train from my neighbourhood. Armed with directions on my iPad I went on my way but was soon lost given my habit of being directionally challenged! I asked some local policemen and as they were explaining the walking route, a passer-by overheard our conversation and when I began walking in the direction the police had pointed towards, the passer-by told me he was going in the direction of the train station and could show me.
Since we live in a paranoid-state-of-mind environment, I instinctively took a step away and looked him up and down, checking for the presence of any weirdness but then I thought not everyone has to have an ulterior motive to be nice and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He led the way and as we walked through the town centre and I explained I was still getting to know Cardiff, he informed me of all the buildings we walked passed, told me their history and when they were built, pointed where the cheapest shops were and local markets where the freshest fruit and veg could be found. I had a guided tour and as we arrived at the train station, he wished me well and went back to work. It was during his lunch hour that he showed me the train station when most of us would think 'I only have an hour, where is the nearest place I can grab something to eat?'
The instinct to help another person when you can has become a dying commodity. In fact we are so used to individualism that we often assume there is a catch when someone offers to help, as I did.
Whilst on the train, I was overwhelmed with a sense of appreciation but I also couldn't help but feel guilty. Guilty that my first thought was one of suspicion as the gentleman offered to help. Guilty for not expecting niceness of humanity in the first instance. We should assume good of people until one is proven otherwise, innocent until proven guilty so to speak but I'm guessing we've become hardwired, engulfed in this tit-for-tat lifestyle of self-centredness.
This encounter was a lesson in humanity for me. Our society is made up of all sorts of people and for every rotten apple, there is a rose in bloom, somewhere...
