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Twitter user Erynn Brook proved this to be true after she shared a heartwarming thread on her Twitter feed a few days ago that went viral and reminded people just how important it is to help when possible.
Erynn started her thread with a simple sentence, "I met a girl on the train last night".
I’m waiting on kitty ultrasound results and trying to distract myself a little bit so I’d like to tell you a story about something that happened last night, in the hopes that I can process my feelings around it.
— Erynn Brook (@ErynnBrook) April 4, 2019
I met a girl on the train last night.
She then goes on to explain how she was on the train on her way home from work at around 10pm, locked in her thoughts as she neared her stop, a girl walks up to her and starts talking in a barely audible voice.
The girl asked her if she was going to be getting off the train any time soon, to which she had replied yes. She then noticed that the girl had a laminated paper in her hand that was titled, "My seizure plan".
At this point it clicked to Erynn that the girl might be looking for some help, and so she asked the girl if she was having a seizure at that moment. The girl responded that she wasn't, but that she would be experiencing one soon.
She then asked if Erynn could sit with her until her stop.
At this point Erynn was worried about what would happen to the girl after she got out. As she asked her what she would do if Erynn couldn't help her, the girl pointed at another woman on the train, asking Erynn if she could ask that woman for assistance instead.
Not wanting to leave the girl alone, Erynn decided that she would miss her stop and stay with the girl to accompany her safely to her destination.
I’m a big sister and a woman in the world. I’m either sitting with her until she’s completely ready to get up and walk away on her own or we’re gonna move together in shifts until she gets to her front door. There’s no way I’m leaving an 18 year old on a subway platform alone.
— Erynn Brook (@ErynnBrook) April 4, 2019
Right after that, the girl's seizure began. Prior to this she had prepared her scarf to lay her head on, and also given Erynn her "seizure plan" which had a detailed description of what to do when she was having a seizure.
In between her seizure, the girl is able to talk and explain to Erynn that she experiences these seizures 1-4 times a day for about ten to sixty minutes every day at random. She also explains to Erynn how the monitor on her finger works to tell her when she is about to experience one.
Soon they are close to the girl's stop and Erynn asks her if she would like to get out, to which the girl responds she's too tired and would prefer to go home instead.
Erynn stays with the young girl on her train journey home to make sure that she arrives safely.
We get to the barrier and I say. “I’d like to walk you to your building door if you’ll let me.” She protests again, but not much. I reassure her that I don’t want to come inside or anything, I’d just like to make sure she gets home safe and I’ll leave once she’s in the building.
— Erynn Brook (@ErynnBrook) April 4, 2019
After making sure the young girl who Erynn discovered was eighteen, arrived safe and sound in her apartment, Erynn continues her thread by explaining that her post was not meant to tell people what a good person she is.
She writes that she wrote the post to highlight "human needs". And to give people the inside view of disability and to show the contrast between accessibility and community care for people who suffer from disabilities.
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"We've built a world where an 18-year-old who gets seizures 1-4 times a day, is taking the subway home alone and she folds her scarf into a pillow before asking a stranger to sit with her until her next stop. Not her own stop. Not to help her home. Just not to inconvenience".
We built a world where an 18 year old who gets seizures 1-4 times a day, is taking the subway home, alone, and she folds her scarf into a pillow before asking a stranger to sit with her until the next stop. Not her own stop. Not to help her home. Just enough to not inconvenience.
— Erynn Brook (@ErynnBrook) April 4, 2019
Erynn goes on to encourage people to do more than the bare minimum where it is possible, to not try and look for the easiest way out of a situation where someone else is in need of help.
We built a world where I could hit an emergency alarm button and walk off at my stop, feeling like I just saved this girl’s life, who didn’t need saving, without losing a minute of my day, if I wanted to.
— Erynn Brook (@ErynnBrook) April 4, 2019
We built a world for convenience, not community.
Erynn finishes this tear jerking thread with the sentence "Build something better, folks. Build a better world" which received over twenty seven thousand likes from Twitter users, who just like myself, found the thread so inspiring.
Hundreds of Twitter users commended Erynn for her random act of kindness. Read some of their tweets below.
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This one read "Thank you for sharing this story, thank you for showing a real life way to engage in community care, for being compassionate and understanding [...]".
@ErynnBrook thank you for sharing this story, thank you for showing a real-life way to engage in community care, for being compassionate, understanding, and all the good things in the world for that person last night. Life goals. <3
— shawna henderson (@shawnahenders19) April 4, 2019
While this one read, "Thank you for sharing this, you give me hope".
Thank you for sharing this.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) April 5, 2019
You give me hope.
Have you done or witnessed a random act of kindness that touched the hearts and lives of others? Share your story with us here.
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