Kiki Hui: I Found Help in a Hopeless State

We've biked a lot these past few weeks. After not biking all summer, I always get pretty tired and hot after a bike ride, which is quite sad. It may be my gears which I have no clue how to work, it may be my cheap Craigslist bike, or it may be my lack of athletic ability, but nonetheless, biking has been my leg workout.

Maybe it's because my tires were flat. So a few minutes ago, I went to one of those bike stations to pump my tires. I have to admit that I have never really pumped bike tires by myself. I always let my parents or my friends do it for me. I know how to, or so I thought, but I've kind of accepted the fact that I'm just not good at fixing things or repairing things.

So I'm at the station, and first of all, I take forever to get my bike close enough to the pump just because I keep inching it closer and it was still too far (I later realized that wheels spin). So there I am struggling to put the cap thing on my tire to pump it up, not knowing if it's on or not, not knowing whether to flip the cap thing or not, not knowing what speed to pump the pump, and of course, I look helpless. However, a nice man, probably a grad student, stops by and just starts helping me. So what would have probably taken me 20 minutes, what should have taken me 2 minutes, ended up taking me 7 minutes because I received help.

This kindness is not a singular event. The people at Stanford are just generally good, kind-hearted people concerned about making a difference in the world. That's not to say outside of Stanford, people are the opposite, but we just have such a concentrated amount here. It took only two minutes of strugge for that man to help me. Help is never too hard to find here. People want to help each other. That's why we don't have the competitive, cutthroat environment typical of top universities. That kindness is something special that I wouldn't trade for anything.

And I biked away at a much greater speed, happy that my tires were no longer flat...hopefully my legs now will get a break. Unless it is of course just my athletic ability.