Slip, Fall and WAIT...

Love happens at the strangest times...After a nice business lunch with a Berkley College Rep and Crystal, we returned by train back to work and were about to climb the stairs to exit the station when a young woman slipped on the snowy wet stairs and landed on her back at the bottom of the staircase. I immediately went over to see if she was okay.  From first glance she seemed stunned but not seriously injured...now here is where it gets tricky.  She complained that she was not okay, she couldn't sit down, she couldn't stand up, she couldn't move her leg, her backside was numb and all I'm thinking is why doesn't she just shake it off and move on already.  She is young, she should be able to bounce back easily!  It just appeared that she was "milking it" for some reason.  This is where Richard pre-lovecompetition would have said his goodbyes and made a hasty run for the exit and left that chick to her own devices.  But the post-lovecompetition Richard said, I have to stick around and see this through.  So with teammate Crystal we held her belongings, called EMS and waited for them to arrive.  We waited, and waited, and waited, and waited for EMS to arrive and that is where some of the nicest things started to happen.  The girl (Ada) thanked us for helping her and staying with her to make sure she was alright.  A bystander who happened to be an off duty EMT stopped and checked the girl out to assess the seriousness of her condition.  A random woman stopped and volunteered to call and wait for the EMT outside of the station (at least 15-20 minutes), and afterwards volunteered to call 311 to complain about how long EMT took to respond.  Various people stopped and asked if everything was ok and if there was anything they could do.  Granted the majority of people just kept on walking and looked annoyed that they had to go around the girl lying on the subway steps, but it was the minority that made me feel good about being a "first responder".  Crystal called the girl's mother (Fila) to let her know what happened and when she was taken by the ambulance, I called the mother to let her know what hospital her daughter would be in. 
Although I'm not sure how hurt the girl really was, I honestly do feel good that I stopped and saw the incident through to the end.  Instead of rushing to get back behind my desk I stopped to help and comfort another human being.  Maybe next time she sees someone who needs help she will remember that two people helped her one time and she will feel the need to do the same.  Maybe those people that passed us by without saying a word will examine why they didn't stop to help also and might reconsider if it happens to them again.  Love, caring, and compassion can truly be contagious.