I crashed. Then dragged myself to a nearby wall. And called the ambulance. Then I called my friend whom I had just left. And she too tripped on the same small step and fell. Although there was a yellow line cautioning people, from where we stood, it looked like flat ground.
I broke my heel and tore a ligament. When recovering, I visited the site as I wanted to photograph it and write a letter to the authorities, asking for a railing to be put up there.
When I was there taking photos, a nearby vendor asked me what I was doing. We got talking and he said “Oh here? Old people fall. Fat people fall. They all fall….”
I was saddened to hear this. And included this information in my letter. Look what happened soon after.
There will be no “thank you” letters from the people who didn’t fall after this railing was put up. And unlike bridges and buildings named after famous people, this railing will not bear your name if you get one put up somewhere. It is important we do them, as we move through life in our own spheres and leave quiet trails of love and service.
It will not be easy at times. Such things can get drowned in the busyness of life. And Winston Churchill did say: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
That has been me too. A child I know got lost with her friend in a building, and went to a shop to ask if she could use the shop assistant’s phone to call her family member. Instead of doing that, the shop assistant told her to go to customer service. This person sent two young girls who were lost out into the mall again. So from the child’s perspective, she asked for help from an adult when afraid and vulnerable and was not given it, and sent out into an unsafe zone again.
I meant to write to the shop and building management to ask them to prioritise the safety of children and nurture compassion in their staff/tenants but life took over and I didn’t. And now too much time has passed. It has gnawed at me and I am transforming the pain now as I write this. May we make time to do what matters.
This railing is a metaphor. What you stumble over may not be in need of a physical railing. This railing also represents prevention of suffering. Prevention sometimes gets less attention than remedial work.
Where could you prevent suffering?
How can you transform your own pain and suffering into service so others don’t have to suffer like you?
To those who don’t hurry off, I honour in my heart your quiet acts, the name-less “railings” and all the thank-you notes you will never receive. This is mine to you.
Vadivu Govind