The lights at the back entrance were only slightly flickering and did not provide enough light for visitors to walk safely, let alone clearly show walkers from the car park what was happening on the steps leading up to the back door.
With just a minute to go before the opening, the young journalist and her partner, who was keeping her company at the time, rushed towards the big building to catch the above-mentioned art exhibition - one of her first journalistic assignments in the new newsroom. They headed towards the main entrance, which was beautifully lit, but out of the corner of their eye they noticed something happening at the back entrance. Someone was lying under the short set of stairs leading into the building. But who was there?
Did a "drunk" drink too much and doze off on the floor? Is there someone waiting in ambush? That would not be impossible at this time either. Or did something actually happen to someone? The young journalist didn't care and was a bit scared, but that didn't stop her and her partner from going to the stairs and actually seeing what was going on.
They saw an elderly lady on the floor. The bouquet she had obviously wanted to take to the artist who was exhibiting that evening was lying far away, all broken and crumpled. Her umbrella was in no better condition. Her brownish coat was dirty with puddles and sand mixed with raindrops. They helped her to her feet and noticed that she had hurt herself quite badly. Blood was coming out of the arcade and she was complaining that her arm and leg hurt. She was confused and visibly hurt.
Although the young journalist cared, she had to do her job and asked her partner to call an ambulance and wait by the lady's side for a while, and ran inside the building. The opening had already started. The young man, her partner, Gregor Potokar, selflessly helped the lady. He called the ambulance and then helped her to call her friend from her phone. He talked to her, supported and calmed her until the ambulance arrived, and then helped her to get in. He told the paramedics what had happened.
A lady who wanted to visit her nephew's exhibition, she said, was walking down the stairs in the semi-darkness. She could not see them very well because of the darkness, and they were slippery from the rain, and her step was unsteady, so she fell with all her strength to the ground. She was unable to pick herself up and said that she would probably have been lying there for a long time if the young couple had not noticed her.
When I asked Gregor why he had helped her and even waited with her until the ambulance arrived, he thought it was stupid of me to even ask. "What was I supposed to do? The lady was injured and confused, of course I didn't want to leave her alone," he replied, as if it was the most logical and unremarkable thing to do.
When I asked him what he would do if instead of a well-groomed elderly lady, there was a guilty man lying on the floor because of his own fault, he did not hesitate to say that he would also help him if he was injured, because every person is worth helping if they need it. And it is people with this view of the world that surely make it at least a shade better.
Maja Horvat, 28 Jan 2025
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