Today, I was faced with a dilemma. I saw an opportunity to perform an unsolicited act of kindness but did not.
Let me explain the details.
This evening I was driving home from a meeting. For the last 5 minutes it had been raining heavily….that sudden and hard falling rain in a stormy sky that Houston commonly gets in the summer. I was driving along a road next to a park area on one side and a residential area on the other.
I noticed a young woman quickly pushing a stroller in the pouring rain, holding her baby in her arms, and with two large dogs on a leash. She was getting ready to cross two-lane roads, both ways with a median in the middle. She definitely had her hands full and it was possibly unsafe for her baby. But she did seem in control (as much as one can be in such a challenging situation).
My instinct was to offer her some assistance …..an umbrella, walk the dogs for her, something. Only a few seconds after the thought came to my mind, the rain suddenly stopped. I had slowed down when seeing her circumstance but continued to drive when the rain stopped.
The pause in the rain gave me time to think that perhaps offering her help, while well-intended, would not be welcome. More possibly, I might inadvertently frighten her….far from my intentions.
I drove on slowly but did not help.
Should I have? Did I do the right thing?
