I think heroes are people we rarely see or only hear about in the news. Some might like being in the spotlight and save others for their own personal gain, but the real heroes are those selfless people who don\u2019t even want a thank you for what they do. I\u2019m sure most people have had the privilege to see such heroes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was helped by a good Samaritan<\/strong> when I was living in Guinea, Africa. I was just learning the local language, so it got me into trouble a couple of times. Once, I was at a street stall buying some candy for the children in my neighborhood. I probably bought the equivalent of 300 yen worth of candy and I thought I handed the vendor what would be worth 500 yen. I know the shop keepers didn\u2019t make a lot of money selling snacks, so I sometimes told them to keep the change if it was small enough. So, I told her to keep the change and started to walk away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She started yelling at me in her local language and I was completely confused. I thought she was trying to give me back the change so I insisted that it was fine that she could keep it. She started laughing and still spoke in a raised voice which made me more confused.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Guinea, there is a kind of local custom that if there is a conflict or a disagreement between people, anyone within listening distance has a right to join in and give their opinion of the situation. Conversations can get quite lively and heated<\/strong> but are often resolved without much damage or harm to anyone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, within seconds I was surrounded by a group of 10-20 people all having their say<\/strong> as to what should be done. I had no idea what was happening and started tearing up from the confusion and frustration of not knowing what to do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Out of nowhere<\/strong>, a man whispered, surprisingly in English, something like this in my ear, \u201cYou only gave her 200 yen but you need to give her 100 yen more.\u201d I apologized over the noisy discussion continuing around us, paid the poor lady, and then the man snuck me away. I escaped without anyone noticing I had left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I thanked the man over and over and he just smiled, shook my hand, and walked on his way. I might have given him a piece of candy as a thank you before he left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what I would have done if he hadn\u2019t shown up. He took the time to understand what was happening and find a way out for me instead of joining in the discussion or just walking on by. I am so thankful that he took the time and I know I want to pay it forward<\/strong> when I get the chance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thinking back on this story, I think that I need to be more aware of my surroundings, especially living in Tokyo. It is a fast-paced life and I often focus too much on my destination, how I\u2019m going to get there, or what I\u2019m going to do. I might be missing an opportunity to help someone in need. I\u2019ll have to keep my eyes and ears open.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Laura<\/p>\n Vocabulary<\/strong><\/p>\n good Samaritan (noun) \u2013 a person who generously gives help or sympathy in a difficult time<\/p>\n heated (adjective) \u2013 full of anger and excitement<\/p>\n have one\u2019s say (idiom) \u2013 to have the opportunity to express yourself fully about something<\/p>\n out of nowhere (idiom) \u2013 in a sudden or surprising way<\/p>\n pay it forward (verb phrase) \u2013 respond to a person\u2019s kindness to oneself by being kind to someone else<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think heroes are people we rarely see or only hear about in the news. Some might like being in the spotlight and save \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":42438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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