What Would YOU Have Done?

Londoners volunteering their services cleaning up after the riots

I live in London. Like so many Londoners these days, my mind is often thinking of the recent riots. Now that things have quieted down there is a lot of reflection  going on, questions of "why" and "what can we do to prevent this again", etc. Most of the rioters were youths under the age of 18 and it's a very complex and deep issue.

In this mood, I was on the bus yesterday, in a hurry to get to my appointment.Three young people got on the bus, the first two showing their passes and sitting down and there was quite a discussion going on with the third friend and the bus driver. It turned out that he wanted the driver to let him travel for free. He was 15, he was saying, and entitled to free travel, but he was robbed and had no proof of i.d. or any money to pay for a ticket. His two friends also had no money to lend him.

Was he telling the truth? It sounded unlikely.But who knows? So there I was, going through all sorts of emotions, wanting to help in some way, realizing that the bus  driver had a perfect right to not allow him free travel without proper i.d. The bus was full and I quickly scanned the faces of all the other people, wondering what  they were thinking. They were all the silent majority, keeping a stiff upper lip.

 "What should I do?" I asked myself. "If he is telling the truth, how horrible, that no one believes him and no one wants to help in any way. That is the sort of thing  to really get someone discouraged and perhaps alienate them against adults, or people who might be a bit better well off them then, etc. And if he is scamming, he will probably do it again anyway."

I finally decided to give him £1 and told him that he can ask other people on the bus to chip in, so that he can pay his fare, and we can get on our way.

But he refused my money and said he didn't want my money,he wasn't a beggar and he wasn't poor--he just was robbed and didn't have his i.d. By this time he was pretty  angry with the driver and getting ready to get off the bus.

As he got off the bus, his two friends got up to go with him. But the girl (also about 15 years old), first turned to me, looked deeply into my eyes and said a very  heartfelt: "Fank you!, fank you!"

I still don't know if they were for real or not. But I hope that by my action I helped them realize that humankind can still believe in each other and help those in  need. I wanted to impart to them that there always is hope and to not give up, no matter how hard and unkind the world might be.

I tried my best to make a difference in their young lives.

What do YOU think?

What would YOU have done?

Please share your comments below.