The Old Lady With The Shopping Trolley

I go for a walk everyday, mostly because the troubles I’ve had with my knees over the past few years have made it difficult (and perhaps unwise) to resume the sort of training regime that I used to put myself through. In any case, I walk the same route everyday, deviating only if construction work or some other unusual circumstance forces me to alter my routine. As a result, I am very familiar with the area and am generally quick to notice if anything unusual is occurring.

Yesterday, I did notice something unusual. There was an old lady with a shopping trolley, and it looked very much as though she was preparing to cross a very busy road away from a designated crossing. She also seemed to be struggling mightily, so I stopped to ask if everything was okay.

After a brief moment or two of confusion, I ascertained that she wasn’t trying to cross the road at all. In fact, the problem was that the contents of the trolley were too heavy for her, and she was struggling to push the trolley in a straight line toward where she wanted to go, which was why it was veering toward the busy road.

I didn’t have to think twice before offering to push her trolley to her car, which was only a short distance away, perhaps ten metres. What surprised me, when I took hold of the trolley, was how light it was. It was something that I could manoeuvre without effort using only one hand, yet the slight tilt to the footpath combined with the weight of the trolley had set her to struggling with all her might to keep the trolley going the way she wanted it to.

So, I was able to help the old lady out and then continue on my way, having lost perhaps only a minute or two of my time. Yet as I walked away, it occurred to me that I was not the first person to pass the old lady. Indeed, several other people had passed her before me, but she hadn’t asked any of them for help.

It must be tough, I think, to live a life of independence and then suddenly have to rely on others for something as outwardly simple as pushing a shopping trolley. It can be humiliating. Even though she knew she needed help, she probably didn’t want to ask for it. She had to wait until someone offered help before she accepted it. I wonder, then, how long she would have waited if I had simply assumed that she was okay because she hadn’t asked for help.

I also wonder how many times I’ve walked past someone who needed help because they didn’t ask for my help. It’s a troubling thought.

The world can be a pretty lonely place sometimes, but we can all do our bit to make it a little bit less lonely by offering a hand to the people who need it.