Spending a week in California, I was the recipient of two similar acts of kindness, both at the hands . . . the arms . . of two different men.
You have probably never noticed but when you are walking on a jetway to board a plane, there is a railing but then it stops as you draw closer to the aircraft’s door. In a feat of poor planning, the handrail ends right at the point where there is an abrupt sloping down of the floor.
I am always one of the first to board, I do everything I can to alleviate the stress and worry I experience when a hundred passengers are in a mad rush to get to their seats and precious open overhead compartments. My husband walks in front of me as I prefer; I often use what I can see of his feet as a guide for my own, plus he gives me shorthand verbal cues of what the ground below said feet is about to do.
On this particular flight to the West Coast, when the inevitable stoppage of railing occurred, the gentleman behind me said, “Would my arm help you?” I thanked him but declined, not wanting to accept for reasons of pride and embarrassment. I also was so focused on the steps at hand that I did not want to break my concentration to figure out the potentially awkward act of taking a stranger’s arm.
A few days later, while waiting for Mister Rain to park the car after he had dropped me off in front of the restaurant where we were going to have lunch, I was looking at my phone when I sensed someone standing close to me. It was a man, slight in stature, covered in tattoos easily seen by even a legally blind person due to the large amount of skin showing outside of his tank top. He didn’t speak, just held up his arm, elbow bent at a 90 degree angle. I had been standing right by the large step onto the establishment’s non-railinged porch, he must have known I was hesitant to attempt that on my own. Once again, on the same basis as at the airport, I turned him down but thanked him for the thoughtful gesture.
These two incidents are not representative of my normal reaction. It was not easy but I have learned to accept assistance since my vision loss. People want to help, and you have to let them.
It is also difficult to extend yourself to a stranger and never more so than now. But people need help, and you have to offer.
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