She was once on the train when she saw a girl in a different compartment faint.
When no one – not even those in the girl’s immediate vicinity – helped the girl, she decided she could no longer remain a bystander.
She went to the girl’s aid and even stayed with her until the paramedics arrived.
Posting on Reddit as Sallyg149, she recalled: “I’m still shocked that no one bothered to go to her – especially those nearer to her. I was much further away from her. They didn’t even press the emergency button until I asked them to!”
I’m sure many of us have been in a similar scenario. Sadly, that’s the bystander effect that so many of us, Sallyg149 included, know too well.
Thankfully for Sallyg149, kind strangers around her defied this bystander effect when she got into an accident yesterday (Jun 10) morning.
Sallyg149 was making her way to work as usual. “I saw that the train was arriving while I was still on the way up to the platform,” she wrote in her Reddit post.
Not wanting to miss her train as she was running a little late, she rushed up to the escalator towards the train.
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However, she tripped and fell forward. She recalled that from there, she also “almost fell back as I was being dragged by the sidewall of the escalator”.
Luckily, an alert stranger who was also on the escalator caught her before she did so, and helped her regain her balance.
“I was really embarrassed at this point and only stood up again and thanked him,” she admitted. “I still hurriedly went to the train and made it.”
While in the train, she felt like she was sweating a lot, which confused her as she rarely sweated profusely.
“That was when I looked down and saw blood dripping on the floor,” she wrote. “I was shocked and realised my fingers got cut deep by the escalator ‘teeth’.”
Unable to stop the bleeding, she looked around helplessly to see if anyone around her had tissue.
Fortunately, “this lady just took out her tissues and napkins without me asking”, Sallyg149 said. “I was really touched. I needed more tissues as the blood was soaking through them, and she gave me more without me saying anything.”
Sallyg149 added that she was safe and otherwise unharmed from the incident. She wound up taking the day off from work in order to go for a check-up.
She wrote: “If the man didn’t catch and stabilise me, I would have probably suffered a much worse fall. And the woman who gave me her tissues willingly – I wouldn’t know how to stop the wound from bleeding if it weren’t for her.”
She ended her post with words of gratitude: “I’m just really grateful because usually during rush hour, people will turn a blind eye.”
Her heartwarming story struck a chord with other Reddit users. One user, Lkxfm, commented: “This is so heartwarming. I hope you are feeling better now!”
Another user also shared an instance where a kind bystander had helped him out, too. “Glad to hear there were people to help you,” he wrote.
He continued: “One time I was crying on the MRT late at night because I’d just gotten some bad family news and was heading home. I was trying really hard to hide it, but the girl next to me handed me a pack of tissues without saying anything. I think she knew I was embarrassed and didn’t want to draw any more attention. I was really touched.”
So, if you see someone in need next time, let’s try to be greater and help them out, instead of being mere bystanders. Like Sallyg149’s example shows, a small act of kindness can go a long way.