Sadly, we never know when we’ll end up in a situation that makes us feel vulnerable. However, those situations can sometimes show us how noble and heroic some people can be in ways we didn’t expect.
I experienced this at a rap show a few years ago when a couple of guys wanted to fight me because my buddy was annoying them. Yet, to my surprise, two total strangers stood by me and said they’d fight back if anything happened. Thankfully, nothing did.
Unfortunately, the dangerous situation that Reddit user strawberry_luv experienced seems more common. But hopefully, the response she received from a stranger can be common too.
Our story begins simply enough. A woman was waiting for her train at a New York subway station.
However, she said that the entire time she was waiting for it, a man was standing right behind her and catcalling her.
As she got on the train, he followed her and stood over her holding the bar after she sat down.
By this point, she was holding her keys between her hands in case the situation turned violent. The man following apparently hadn’t noticed, and she figured that nobody else had either.
The longer the man stood over her, the more her anxiety levels rose.
Before long, this made her nauseated and she felt like she might throw up.
So she stood up near a bunch of other people and started holding the rail. However, she soon learned that more eyes were on her than she thought.
Before she knew it, another guy said to her, “Hey, Lauren. You going to Jeff’s party too?”
Since she never met him and her name wasn’t Lauren, she said it took her a few seconds before she realized what was going on.
Once she realized that he also knew there was no Lauren, she said yes.
“Perfect timing,” this new stranger replied, “what stop were you going to get off on?”
After she told him, he reached for his phone and said “Look what Jeff just texted me.”
But instead of his messages, the man she would later know as Michael had his notes app open. On it, he had written “Are you OK?”
Without a word, Michael moved to the side so she could write a response.
The woman wrote that the man who was standing over her before was following her.
Even though her stop was nowhere near Michael’s, he got off and started walking with her.
As the woman soon learned, Michael was committed to making sure she was safe. He ended up walking her all the way to her friend’s apartment.
It also didn’t hurt that according to the woman , Michael was apparently bigger than her stalker. Unsurprisingly, the guy stopped following her soon after they started walking together.
She said that most New Yorkers keep to themselves, so she was so thankful that somebody was aware of her situation.
She added that she always told herself what she would do at a time like this, but when her stalker stood over her, she said she just froze and shut down.
As she put it, “I am sorry I made you late, but you were like my guardian angel.”
As harrowing as her story was, the responses to it made it clear how often situations like this really happen.
But the good news is that sometimes, a passer-by doesn’t need to go as far as Michael did to help somebody in need.
At least, that’s what Reddit user ion_mighty found out when somebody got in their face and wouldn’t stop asking for money.
This became quite the uncomfortable situation until another guy made eye contact as he was walking by.
Once he saw the discomfort in this person’s eyes, he stopped and stood nearby until the personal space invader finally left. With that, the passer-by simply made eye contact again, nodded and kept on walking.
There’s nothing like the feeling of knowing that somebody has your back.
A Redditor named lomo2785 then shared their story about an encounter at a bus stop.
She said that a man with a cane stood beside her and she thought he seemed angry and troubled.
As she stepped away, she found out she was right because he started following her and screaming that she “ruins his day every day.” This was accompanied by him pointing the cane at her and banging it on a trash can.
Although she tried to remain calm, she started to feel afraid as she asked him to stop several times.
Suddenly, another guy seemed to appear beside her and asked if she was OK. Apparently, this was all it took for the screaming man to walk away.
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Even so, the kind stranger still stood by her side until her bus came and said, “I hope your day gets better” as she got on.
So remember, the simple act of letting someone in need know that you’ve got their back can be powerful.