“I slept through my station. It was dark and the trees were out and it was like in a scary movie. I saw one last car.”

Hold a Conversation

In addition to the questions below, please see How to use the questions for reflection.

Clarifying Questions

• How did the speaker respond to missing his train stop?
• How would you describe the actions of those who came back for the speaker?
• Why might the speaker feel bad for forgetting their names?

Interpretive Questions

• How would you identify the speaker’s ethnicity? Do you think if he had been Chinese, he would have received the same help? Why or why not? What if he had been African-American? Why or why not?
• In what circumstances would you have returned for the speaker? What keeps us from helping others?

Let us know how the conversation or self-reflection went. Email us or discuss the experience in our comment box.

Transcript for In Very Good Hands

Once I took a train from Chicago. It was the last train, the last V-Line bus. I slept through my station, and ended up leaving the train from the next station. And it was dark and the trees were around and it was like in a scary movie. And I saw only one last car leaving, and they were three people and they were so nice. I went and talk to them.

Apparently, they happen to go to Michigan City which was opposite direction and I had to go to Valparaiso. They told me that they were some numbers of taxis that could drive. And I thanked them, and I tried started calling my friends, starting calling taxis, no response.

Maybe was 1:00a.m. I see this car comes back they said, “Yeah we came back just to check if you had left or not.” and I was so surprised. They gave ride to a lady then came back to check if I was there still or not. These people gave me a ride back to campus and didn’t even take money or anything. They took my thanks and left. I don’t know where do they live and don’t even remember their names. Shame on me.