My life as a university student might not be different than any other student’s. I stay up late every night, sometimes I have sleeples nights working on assignment and cramming on upcoming tests. My life is normal, everyday I commute all the way to UBC. When I have to walk home alone at night, I make sure that I my cell phone comes in handy, so I can dial 911 incase of emergency. Lol
This happened a few months ago, while I was walking to the skytrain. I live 7-minutes away by walk from Edmonds skytrain. It was Sunday, around 8 in the morning, and it was already winter, so it was still dark outside. I was texting my friend while I decided to take the short cut, because I didn’t want to be late for my preference day on campus. I didn’t really pay attention to anything surround me, because as far as my eyes could see, there was nobody else walking there.
I kept walking and texting, until I realized that a guy was standing on my right, he was about 2 metres away from me. He said ‘Hey’ while I still had my sight on my phone screen. I took a look at him and that was when I noticed that he was such a freak. He had his pants down and shouted ‘Let’s get laid’ while he was chasing after me. I freaked out and started screaming but realized that nobody else was there. I ran all the way to the skytrain while he kept running after me. It was the scariest moment of my life. I was so disgusted.
Since then, I am always conscious. I am really suspicious of strangers (no matter how they look like) and I am reluctant to help people I meet on the street. I am scared that they would take me for granted.
Until 2 months ago, I remember it was Wednesday. I was walking from the Panhellenic House to the bus loop. It was around 10 pm. It was dark, and there were only Ariel (my friend) and I. We were crossing the street in front of the hospital when suddenly we saw a man crossing the street walking towards us. He was blind, and he used stick to help him walk. He looked pretty shabby and I said to myself ‘Dont get fooled by these kinds of people. He might have something bad in his mind.’ and I whispered to Ariel ‘Watch out, sketchy guy!’ and I thanked God that she didn’t hear me. In no time, she walked to that blind man, grabbed his hand, and helped him cross the street and told him to be careful.
I was really touched by that, on the other hand, I felt bad about myself. How could I think of something that shallow while the fact that he was in need of help and he was really powerless.
That experience changed my way of thinking. I learned a lesson that I cannot judge other people by how they look and I cannot think that all people are bad based on that one bad experience I had in the past. Since then, I learned how I should be able not to judge people, and smartly helped those in need. Stay positive!