Not Everyone Can Be Saved...

_Pixabay

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There are times when doing good will work out well for everyone involved, both for the person doing the deed and also for the one that the deed is being done. It will go great and everyone will go home happy and fulfilled, pleased that they had been able to avert another tragedy.

However, especially in this Nigeria of mine, there are some unfortunate cases where good deeds never go as planned.

These days, it takes a great deal of courage to be a good Samaritan. You could be walking down the road and see someone that is obviously a victim of a gunshot wound, out of compassion you rush the person to the hospital. But the hospital would not treat him because it is a bullet wound. And you would have to provide a police report stating that such a person was not a criminal.

And usually, by the time the police report was gotten, the person could be dead.

This is a practice that has been in play in my country for a long time, and I have absolutely no idea why it has not been revoked. They don’t want to know if the person was a victim of an attack or something else, they just assumed that the person was a criminal. And then, even if it was a criminal, he would still have the right to be treated. At most, they can place officers on him and cuff him to the mattress so he does not escape.

And other times, the hospitals do not even reject the victims because it is a bullet wound, they reject if they are afraid that the victim would die and they don’t want him to die in their hospital. A totally unethical act for people in their profession.

_{Linkedin Sales Navigator}

It has gotten so bad, spreading to everyone that these days if you happen to even show a little kindness to strangers, they would suspect you.

I was on a bus about a year ago, just minding my business as I went on my journey. Halfway through, a woman started looking for her purse in the bus. There was nowhere she did not look for it, she searched through her bag and under the seat but she could not find it. When the time came to pay the conductor, she was almost panicking because she was stranded and the trip alone cost about five hundred naira. That was to show you how far we were going that day.

Without her purse, she would be stranded when she came down.

When the people sitting beside her noticed how she was searching, they inquired and she told them. So, the young man beside her volunteered to pay for her and even give her an extra thousand naira so she could get to her destination safely.

And that was his mistake.

_{Engin Akyurt}

She suddenly began to accuse him of stealing her purse. Her logic was that why would he just be willing to help out a total stranger with a thousand and fifty naira in this hard regime? He had stolen her purse and he was looking to give her only a little out of the money.

It was not a small thing, while the young man tried to explain himself, she raised her voice and shut him up. Commanding him to produce the purse immediately. Fellow passengers asked her why she was sure he was the one that took it and her reply was that he was quick to offer help. If it were his money he would have at least waited for her to beg for it.

Yeah, her argument did not make any sense back then either. She did not stop. The man withdrew his offer and told her to settle herself. But when he got to his bus stop and he alighted, she alighted with him and grabbed hold of his shirt, screaming “thief!” there at the junction that was filled with touts and market women.

_{Yan Krukov}

In seconds, people began to gather. In Lagos, nothing gathered people faster than the word ‘thief’. They hated them with passion.

Immediately, all of us in the bus that knew what had happened came down as well and pried off the woman’s hands from the young man. As the mob swelled, the driver of the bus had to explain that it was not the young man that had stolen her money and she had simply misplaced it. The young man was searched and nothing could be found on him. He was not even carrying a bag in which he could hide her purse, so her accusation was clearly unfounded.

The crowd listened to him because he was one of them, and so they let the young man go. If not, they would have lynched him on the spot. That was certain.

_{Nice guys}

I honestly don’t know what the woman was trying to gain from doing that to the young man, but when she saw that it had failed, she tried to get back on the bus but the driver ordered her not to. We all got back in except her, no one cared about her again, or pitied her. She was stranded and the person that had tried to help her had almost gotten killed.

We left her at the bus stop and continued on our journey.

Since that event, I have always been thinking twice about helping people out because that memory was burned into my brain and I would not be forgetting it in a hurry. Although, I did not let it stop me though. Most times, I just wait until I am asked for help instead of just volunteering it. Experience has been a great teacher indeed.

I just hope that people will learn to treat others better and accord them the respect they deserve because that is the only way we can grow as a people. Because reading so many posts about heroes who put their lives on the line for strangers, it got me thinking about this one event and I thought to share it.

But still, don’t stop being a good person. And if you have an opportunity to save someone, please do it. But always go with your gut. They would never fail you.

_{Longxiang Qian}

Thank you for reading, till we meet in the next post.

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_{Borderimage credit: @deimage.}