The above quote was told to me years ago after a long night of sitting and chatting with friends from around the world. A new person had joined our group for one night. I had commented on how nice they were.

Other people there did not agree with my statement. My friend Rimi then shared her thoughts above. What she said has stuck with me to this day.

I did not see this as a bad trait to have. If interacting with me made someone want to be a better person in general, how could it be a bad thing? It can not.

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Friday evening July 17th, 2020

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I was finally feeling good on this day. I had accomplished a ton of household things and work projects I had been wanting to do. For the first time in a long time, I did not feel most of my day was spent waiting for my mind and body to wake up enough to function.

While taking out the garbage bag from the kitchen I heard the sound of a band playing off in the distance. It was a beautiful day outside with a few more hours of sunlight left. I decided to go for a walk to see where the music was coming from.

Walking back into the house I grabbed my cane and cell phone to take on my quest to find music and laughter.

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Walking toward the river I could see more and more people out walking than I have seen all Summer long. It made me smile. Mothers walking with their daughters. Others walking their dogs. The world, for a moment, felt right.

My first encounter was with a man older than me. I was about 15 feet away from him and I coughed. He grabbed his mask and quickly drew it up over his face while looking me in the eye and saying that it wasn't because I coughed. I explained to the man that I smoked a lot and because of this do cough. You could see him physically relax.

He ended up starting a twenty-minute conversation about masks with me. I listened and in the end, we had a nice conversation. He went off to walk his dog and I went off to find the music realizing I had not grabbed a mask before I left the house. My oversite.

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Normally when I go on a walk no one is awake. Grabbing a mask has not become normal to me. The few times I have gone to a store I had my purse which does have my mask in it.

I realized, while walking the twenty last feet to the river, any idea I had about getting close to the music was not safe for others or me. This was okay. There are a lot of benches and tables that dot the river walk. I was happy just to sit there listening to the people and music from far away.

Luck was on my side. The first table was open with no one sitting on it. I would be close enough to hear the music clearly but not close enough to cause anyone harm. I made my way to the table, slid my legs in, and lowered myself to sit on the bench attached. I ended up on the ground.

I was more in shock wondering how someone with a rear-end, as big as mine, could miss a whole seat and end up on the ground until I turned on my side and saw at least ten people all facing away from me. Those same people who were close enough to have seen me fall.

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I am not a small woman. I have pure white hair and the sun was out. When I fell, knocking the air out of my lungs, I had made a loud sound.

Rolling over the rest of the way, shaking my head at how I could be so clumsy to miss a whole bench with my ass bugged me. I have fallen too many times this year already. I told myself to be more careful in the future.

Finally seated I got teary-eyed. Not for myself but for the people that walked by me, all without masks, and never even asked if I was okay or if they should call 911 to help me. They had seen a person fall, turned their heads away, and kept on walking.

I was in shock. I am still in shock. The photo of what I saw from the ground, of the backs of people walking away, is etched into my brain for all eternity.

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hu·man·i·ty
/(h)yo͞oˈmanədē/
noun
the human race; human beings collectively.
"appalling crimes against humanity"

humaneness; benevolence.
"he praised them for their standards of humanity, care, and dignity"

~Google

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I live in a small town. A place where strangers say 'Good Morning' or 'Hi!' when passing someone on a sidewalk. A place where six months ago if told someone fell around a group of people and no one stopped to even ask if they needed help, I would have been there arguing against this ever happening.

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The human trait of survival is ingrained in all of us.

A person's humanity is what makes up who a person is.

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I understand people being scared. I understand people putting their health first. I do not have an issue with this concept in any way, shape, or form. What I do have a problem with is looking back at history and wondering if this is how events of horrendous magnitudes, such as concentration camps came to be.

The loss of worldwide humanity starts with one person falling or being taken away while every person who witnesses this event looks the other way. The instinct to survive, under any circumstances, kicks in.

We all have free will. It is the gift we were given to make choices in finding our life path. Ten people on Friday evening July 17th, 2020 chose to look away. In one small American town, ten people chose survival over humanity.

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