During my student years, it was a regular practice for me to visit my boyfriend who lived in the Goriška brdy mountains for a weekend. That day, however, I almost missed my transport - not through any fault of my own, but because I decided to help a man in need.
As I walked towards the city centre, an elderly lady walked towards me, having run out of ground under her feet on a raised part of the pavement. She fell badly and punctured her lip. I remember it all in slow motion. People just walked past her, nobody stopped to help her, and I ran over and asked her if she was all right. All tearful at first, she didn't even know what exactly had happened. I helped her up and asked her if I should call an ambulance. She insisted that it was not necessary, but I could see from her face that she was in complete shock. Fortunately, a friendly security guard from a nearby bank came to our rescue, helped me to get her upright and together we walked her to the door. Although she insisted that she did not need medical help, the security guard and I agreed that this was the best solution at the time.
He quickly jumped inside the building, brought a chair for us to sit the lady on and a glass of water for her. Another girl joined us and helped us with tissues, as the blood coming from her lip still hadn't stopped. The lady was crying inconsolably that she had no one and that she did not know what she was going to do. I called an ambulance. They asked me where I was and what exactly had happened and assured me that they would do their best to be there as soon as possible.
Even though I was in a hurry to move on, I knew I had to wait with her until the paramedics arrived. I sent a short message to the gentleman with whom I had an appointment, saying that there had been an accident, so I might be a little late. He wrote to me that it was valid, but that I should hurry anyway. I was torn between whether I should trust the lady in the care of the friendly security guard and hurry up, or whether I should wait with her for the ambulance.
I decided to wait, because the lady felt sorry for me, especially as she kept saying she was alone and had no one. Her blood had slowly stopped flowing, but I still wanted the paramedics to look at her, because she might have hit some place that was not visible. It took a while for them to arrive; between 20 minutes and half an hour. I have to admit that I was angry at them for picking on me like that, because it could have been worse.
The paramedics loaded her into the ambulance on arrival, thanked us for our help and took her away. I was glad that I was not alone in this situation, but that both the security guard and a passing girl came to my aid. The security guard praised us before leaving and told us to tell our mothers so that they could be proud of us.
I almost missed my transfer because the driver didn't want to wait, but I managed to catch him in the end. But I knew at that moment that it was the right and humane thing to do to help someone in need, because I wanted someone to help me if something like that happened to me.
Klavdija Rupar Vuga
English (UK) 
Slovenščina 
Italiano 
Magyar