A couple of weeks ago, I was in Winnipeg for a conference. While there, I decided to visit some friends of mine in the evening. When I got to their apartment, I saw a "little old lady" unloading her groceries from her car. While I could carry them all myself, it looked like they were too much for her.
Naturally, my first instinct was to offer to help her with the groceries. Then I paused. I'm a large, bearded, scary looking guy. Would she be freaked out if I approached her? You hear of so many awful things happening in the city, could I blame her if she didn't want help from a stranger?
In the end I figured I'd rather offer than just be a jerk and walk by, and she gladly accepted. She chatted away while we walked into her apartment building, telling me about the perogy dinner she was preparing for at her church. When we reached the elevator she asked me to set them in the elevator and she'd be fine from there (which was smart of her, this way the stranger doesn't know what apartment she is in). I then went on to my friends apartment in the neighboring building.
What makes me sad is I actually hesitated before offering her help because in this day and age, you always hear about how you can't be too careful, so I was worried that I'd frighten or upset her if I talked to her (I wasn't really worried about my safety, I could of taken her in a scrap if I had to :)). What is our society coming to that we hesitate to offer other people help? Or is it just me who has this issue?
Same dilemma happens to me all the time. Good for you for doing the right thing Jay!
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