Sometimes, people aren’t so bad.

We all have days when things get on top of us, right? Days when there is just so much crap to wade through that you just want to find somewhere to hide (preferably somewhere cool in this ridiculous heat), and recalibrate by yourself for a while. Sometimes I’m lucky and am able to find the time to get away for a few minutes.

Not too long ago I found myself trying to de-stress a little by just spending a few minutes walking by myself. I got to a bridge that crossed the A442. I stopped for a while to watch the traffic going by underneath. I don’t suffer from depression. I am more and more anxious, hopeless and powerless about the future as the years go by, but unless you’re deliberately ignorant and purposefully stupid, so are you. (And if you are being deliberately ignorant and purposefully stupid? I can’t honestly say I care too much about you at this point and you frankly deserve what’s coming to us all.) But that’s not depression. That’s being reasonably aware of the state of the world, possessing a capacity for empathy and a basic understanding of science.

So, gazing at the traffic going by below me, standing on that bridge, I didn’t actually contemplate jumping in any serious way – perhaps as a mental exercise, but probably not even then. But I must have looked ready to end it all.

A couple pushing a baby in a pushchair walked by. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about them. As they walked past I ignored them and continued to gaze at the traffic. Then a surprising thing happened. The young man stopped, turned to me and asked: “You alright mate?” It was just the kind of voice/accent that it is incredibly difficult not to judge instantly – that kind of youth crossed with a mix of local accents mixed into something unique to the area. It can only be described as Telf. But that irritating accent didn’t prevent the concern of one human to another from coming through. It was weirdly moving. “I’m fine, thanks,” I responded. He nodded and we both set off in different directions.

Under other circumstances, I would probably judge him pretty harshly. He’s probably one of those deliberately ignorant people I mentioned earlier, ignorant of the larger picture. I said earlier, people like that deserve what’s coming. Does he, really? Perhaps not. The baby he was pushing along certainly doesn’t.

So yes, I need to sometimes re-evaluate what I think of people. Sometimes they can surprise you by being half decent humans under the surface.