Standing in their shoes

Most of us would have come across people who claimed they were stranded or in need of money to get to their destinations. Sometimes, we render help, other times, we do not because we have doubts about the genuineness in their pleas. I seldom helped these people because I disbelieved their stories. It was all scam, they are all fraudsters. How is it possible that a person could be stranded  especially  those who claimed to be lost and penniless, and not have any alternative, what about the ATM? I thought. On a certain day, for which I was unprepared, I stepped into their shoes.

I had made plans to visit my cousin and as soon as it was  noon, I left awka for igbariam.   This was in my first year in Unizik, Awka in Anambra, Nigeria. In Awka, at every stop, you are sure of seeing  at least one or several banks around. Being a newbie, I assumed it would be the same in every other town/city in the state so when I got to the bus-stop and I was charged thrice the amount normally charged for transport fare, I wasn't bothered. "I would withdraw from an ATM as soon as I get to Igbariam" I told myself. As soon as the bus left Awka, I asked a lady seated beside me if she could inform me when we got to Igbariam and she replied in the affirmative and convinced me that she was very familiar with the town having been there severally. After thirty minutes, I asked this lady if we had gotten there and she told me no. Twenty seven minutes later, I asked again. I didn't think the town would be this far and I asked someone else. Lo and behold, we were two towns past my destination and that's how I alighted in an unknown town with less than hundred naira on me. I walked up to a woman and explained to her that I was lost and needed her to give me directions on how to get back to Igbariam and I let her know I was in a difficult situation. It was hard for me to talk about my predicament but I knew I needed help. The kind lady took me to the bus stop and surprisingly gave me some money saying that the amount I had wouldn't get me to Igbariam. And when I got to the bus stop, I met a warm hearted woman and her son who eventually paid for my transport fare when we got on the bus. I was really grateful and that's when it dawned on me.
What would I have done if no one believed my story? There were no banks for several miles. I realized that some of those "stranded"  people might have been telling the truth but I couldn't understand the desperate situation they were in until I was standing in their shoes. True, not all these people are being honest but how can we tell?