Today I was cycling through Amsterdam (doing a lot of that, these days) as I passed someone who walking on the sidewalk and continuously looking over his shoulder. Just as I past him he saw what he was looking for: the bus was coming. He started running. As I drove on, accompanied by the sound of his running feet (it wasn't a very light run, though the boy wasn't heavy), I was still going faster then him. As the bus reached the busstop, way ahead of us, I heard the running steps kick it up a notch. The boy was getting desperate, he didn't just have to catch a bus, he had to catch thát bus! For a moment I contemplated looking back at him and shouting 'hop on! I'll bring you!' My bike is strong, my tires have plenty of air, I'm strong enough and it's just the thing for me to do.
... but I didn't.
Later in the day, I was again cycling (like I said, doing a lot of that), I saw a woman, obviously a tourist, standing with a piece of paper. I assumed the piece of paper held and adress she had to get too, the woman was looking close to panicking. Her husband was looking around the streets, as if there would be a sign saying: "mr. and mss. Johnson, this way please!" As I approached the couple, the woman asked another man for help, he shook his head, he was also a tourist and had no idea how to get them to their spot. I thought about stopping, asking them where they had to be and help them get there. I was in no rush, I knew the area well, and it was just the thing for me to do.
... but again, I didn't.
It wasn't that I didn't want to, it wasn't that I couldn't, I just didn't.
Does this make me a bad person? Or antisocial? Or did this make me like most people, who don't bother to help, when they're not being asked, or when they're not obliged by some unwritten social rule?
Do we always have to help the people, when we're able to? Should we?
Should we mind our own business, and so should others?
Maybe it's selfish to always want to be the one to help others...
Maybe I should give others the opportunity of helping their fellow citizens...
Maybe I was very social, to an other helper today...
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Today I was looking out of the kitchen window, while washing the dishes. The window of my kitchen is like a television with a channel tuned on the local street. You see that girl in the opposite building that takes care of her plants, or you see that housewife up left that peeps out like I do, or those guys that were cleaning their garage from all the old stuff. They placed all that crap on the top of the semi-interred trash container.
You have to know that in Amsterdam many trash containers are semi-interred, because would be very awkward to have them standing in the air visible to everybody (something from which Italy should learn, I think). But this means that you should keep the top panel of the trash bin, free from other crap that can obstruct the work of the crane used to empty the container. There is also a big clear sign that says that if you leave trash over there, you get fined with 80 eur. But they didn't care. And I thought to go down and speak to them, to tell them. Instead I didn't. I just looked at them. And they looked at me.
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