That night was supposed to be a joyous occasion. I had just walked out of GameStop, happy and ecstatic that I was with one of my best buddies picking up a game I had been waiting for for a very long time. We were walking down Capitol Hill to the bus stop, each of us going home on our respective routes.
Over by Seattle Central College, we came across this man who was unconscious, lying face down behind a pickup truck that was just parked there. The car itself wasn’t running, so I don’t believe that it backed into him.
The only people who seemed to be around at the time was a person with their phone out calling 911 and someone else who was too inebriated to be of use.
And when people started walking by my friend and I, they didn’t even look down to see if the guy was OK or if he needed attention. They just had their headphones on, walked straight past and pretended like nothing was happening.
It gave me such a feeling of helplessness to be in a situation where someone may be dying right in front of me. The only thing that ran across my mind was, “What can I do to help?” I didn’t know what to do in a situation like this. I can’t afford to take first aid or CPR classes or any other training that could help save someone’s life. I think there should be free or low-cost classes available so that anyone can be trained to do something in a crisis situation. It was one of my biggest fears realized right in front of me.
As the medics arrived, they checked on the man. A couple others checked on other people in the area for any information on what happened. They seemed to be more interested in finding out what had happened than giving aid to the person who was in greatest need.
As the ambulance and fire trucks drove away and I got on the bus with my friend, I had this feeling of complete and utter shame that I was so helpless. It’s something that I still haven’t forgotten months later. It’s something I think of every day: What can I do to help someone in their greatest time of need?
As a Real Change vendor, I have realized that my mission in life wasn’t necessarily to afford every piece of electronics that I wanted, or every game that I wanted, or anything that was of material consequence. But I’m with people every day, and over time I felt that this was my mission in life: to be someone positive people could look forward to seeing every day — and not just feeling upset at their jobs or their individual circumstances — to know that there’s someone there for them, whether they buy a paper or not, that there’s someone who’ll smile at them, no matter what. And that should be the greatest gift one can give to someone else: a smile.
It’s not just about what I can do for someone, but what everyone can do to care about each and every person they meet in their lives, instead of thinking they’re invisible or they’re beneath you in any sort of way. It doesn’t matter who you are, what your position is in life. The most important thing to remember going forward each and every day is you are not the only person in the world, but one of billions of people. Also, your heart should be thankful each and every day that you walk this earth, and you should share the love that you have for yourself with everyone you come across.
Matt Hill has been a Real Change vendor since 2015.
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