The kindness of strangers: more childhood memories

Going to 'The Moving garden' exhibition at the NGV today (see my previous post for context) reminded me of some events from my childhood that proves how the kindness of strangers can leave an indelible impression on one's mind. One summer, my sister and I signed up for some fun activities at our elementary school. It was led by a group of young people, and we did some crafts and played games. On our way to the school, we had to cross a busy road. For some reason we decided not to wait for the pedestrian signal to turn green that day and made a run for it. My sister tripped and scraped her knee very badly. As the blood was gushing out and my sister was crying uncontrollably, I looked around for help, feeling great panic because it was in the middle of the afternoon and I couldn't see anyone nearby. Luckily, a university student happened to pass by. He offered to give my sister a piggyback ride all the way to the school. I think the walk took about 10 to 15 minutes and when we arrived, my sister was taken to the nurse's office and quickly bandaged up. The kindness of this stranger will never be forgotten.

Another time, we were taking a very long bus ride to another city and I had to sit next to an elderly man instead of with my family because we couldn't get seats together. I felt so tired and quickly dozed off, my head nodding and bobbing until it eventually rested on his shoulder. He was so kind to let me sleep on his shoulder until we reached our destination. When we finally arrived, my parents apologized profusely and they started chatting. We found out that he had the same birthday as me! What a lovely coincidence.

The most memorable incident was when my dad decided to drive us up the mountains in Taiwan to a place called Guanwu (meaning 'looking at the mist') for an overnight getaway with a group of family friends. They had arrived first and we were almost there when it suddenly started raining very heavily and the car got stuck as we were trying to cross a creek. It was very scary, as the water started flooding into our car. We quickly jumped out and waded to the main road. Thankfully, an indigenous man who lived nearby had a truck that could tow our car back to safety! We will always be very grateful to him.

I would love to hear your stories about the kindness of strangers:)

@snooway

Note: I took this photo at Floriade in Canberra a few years ago. It is an annual flower festival that attracts a lot of tourists to the capital.