Acts of Kindness

Acts of Kindness

As a child, I remember one of my best days was when I got my bicycle. I was so happy, and this was followed by many more days of joy and laughter on my bike as I rode it almost everywhere I went. In addition, my friends also got their bikes, and others got their skateboards, which made our childhood experience a thousand times more amazing. Those days are a huge part of my life, and I wish the same for every other child. This wish made me want to train my young cousin to learn how to ride her bike one summer when I vacationed with her family when I was a teenager. My cousin, Lisa, was six then, and I convinced my hesitant aunt that Lisa would be safe and learn quickly at that age. With her permission, I made it one of my summer missions to teach Lisa how to ride her bike. Lisa was not as confident on the bike, so it took longer for her to learn how to ride it herself; however, I was patient and enjoyed teaching her.

Several days after we started the lessons, she could ride the bike independently, and I could not have been more proud of her. However, something bad happened soon after. One afternoon, I decided to take my aunt’s bike and take out Lisa’s to ride around the neighborhood. Happily, we went out while I let her overtake me as I cheered her on. “Woah! Look at you go, oh no, you are getting better than me.” “I am going to catch up with you,” and she would giggle as she paddled faster and faster down the bike lane. Suddenly, we came to a corner, and Lisa somehow could not make a turn, so she veered into traffic. The driver of an approaching car immediately braked, but the car still came into contact with Lisa, knocking her a few feet forward. Fortunately, she only got minor injuries, including a dislocated shoulder. Her protective gear, including the helmet and pads, played a huge role in minimizing the severity of her injuries. Nevertheless, Lisa’s summer was ruined by that day because she had to spend the next two weeks with her hand in a cast and a few bruises all over her body, not to mention she said that she never wanted to ride a bike again and to see the trauma she had just experienced by almost dying was perfectly reasonable. My aunt was also angry at me for a while; besides, I had insisted on teaching Lisa to ride a bike while she was against it. Perhaps her maternal instincts could tell that something terrible would happen, and Lisa getting hurt was very scary, especially for my aunt, so she directed that fear at me as anger. All I wanted was to be a good cousin and share something that I knew would lead to many more good memories for my cousin, but it all backfired in the end.

I wanted to go home after the accident because being around them led to these waves of guilt hitting me every now and then. I felt like I was walking on eggshells around them. Moreover, seeing Lisa in pain and struggling to do basic stuff like take off a sweater or play with her dollhouse did nothing but make me want to cry. I couldn’t trust myself for a while and kept second-guessing myself, always consulting my aunt and others in the house before doing something. My aunt and I were talking, but I could tell she was still angry with me for a while. After several days, however, she sat beside me while I watched Lisa and her siblings play in the backyard. “Look at her, a cast on her arm, but she is still out there running around,” she said. “ Yeah, she keeps saying it’s just a boo-boo,” I replied. “I remember when I broke a toe,” my aunt said. “Oh my God, I am so sorry; what happened?” I asked, and my aunt told me how she and her mother were playing, and her mother was spinning her around. Unfortunately, my aunt’s foot came too close to the ground and hit a rock. Since she was only wearing flip-flops, her toe broke. She also told me about accidents that happened to her siblings, my mum, and my uncles. She was no longer angry with me; knowing this, some of my guilt went away. “I know you meant well teaching Lisa how to ride a bike, and I know that you’ve been angry with yourself about the accident; I was too because for a close second there, I almost lost my baby, but thankfully, all she got was a boo-boo,” she joked, and we both chuckled. “ She is okay, and that’s all that matters, and I know she had fun riding that bike, and as much as I dread it, I know someday soon, she will want to ride it again, so stop beating yourself up, everything is okay,” she said. “Thanks, Aunty”, I replied, trying not to cry. Later, I started thinking about how I also had my fair share of personal accidents with my siblings and friends. I realized it happens to many people, and good intentions can lead to bad results. Nonetheless, all we can do is hope that everything works out. However, even with that hope, one should also be prepared for bad outcomes because sometimes, they are inevitable.

Despite now knowing that accidents could happen to anyone at any time, I felt an immense responsibility for my cousin getting hurt. It was my choice to get her on a bike and teach her how to ride it; if I had not done that, she would not have been on the bike the day she got hit by the car. It was all a series of actions, one after another that started with my decision to teach Lisa to ride a bike. My kind gesture went haywire because of something completely out of my control. It was a total accident, and no one could have predicted it. Granted, maybe I should have been more careful while Lisa was still new to riding her bike, but I still feel that it was unavoidable because a million things could have happened to her while she was riding her bike, and the one thing that happened was getting hit by a car.

Looking back, the only thing I would do differently is watch Lisa for a little bit longer and insist more on why she should be careful while out riding her bike. I do not regret teaching her how to ride a bike.

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Acts of Kindness

For ACT 3, try either (or both) a brainstorming activity and/or an outline.

Try a brainstorming strategy mentioned in the assigned reading from You, Writing! on pages 25 through 30. Our topic for our first paper is outlined in the assignment sheet.

If you prefer, try creating an outline instead.