Full of the Joys

I woke up happy this morning! It's a beautiful crisp autumn morning here in Dublin, and while there can be no doubt that summer is on the wane I still can't help enjoying this time of the year. I love the colours in the trees, the crispness in the air and the gradual need to wear comfy wooly jumpers!

I managed to cram in loads of work last night, finished my antibiotics, and had a great nights sleep and it has all added to my good humour today!

But I think it was the small indication of the kindness of people that I witnessed on my walk to work this morning that really cheered me up. It was a small incident really. A woman, not old not young, stumbled and fell on a very busy footpath outside one of the cities dart stations. At least 5 people jumped to her rescue. Picked her up from the path, dusted her down, one woman even gave her a little hug, and I could tell rather than being embarrassed she was put at ease by the kindness shown to her by random strangers. It lifted my spirits too I was glad to see that despite what you hear about modern society becoming more cold and uncaring that there are still people out there who defy those statements.

Just after the London bombings in July of this year there was a horrifying incident on a bus in the same city, where a young man was stabbed by a person he had asked to stop throwing chips at others riding on the bus, including the victim's girlfriend. According to an eye witness article I read in the Guardian (I think) no-one came to the man's pleas for help, he had to make his way from the top deck of the bus to the lower level himself calling for help, meanwhile his killer just left the scene with no intervention. The writer of the piece came to his aid, tried to make him comfortable and called an ambulance, everyone else either left or watched her. One person even refused to give her, her jacket for the dying man's head, as she was afraid blood would get on it. I found the article chilled me to the bone and depressed me. I can understand people's fear in these situations but I would like to think that if I were (God forbid) involved in something like this that I would have the courage to do the right thing.

The small incident gave me an indication that all is not lost. There are still good people left in the world.