![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Strange Encounters
Jan. 24th, 2008 11:00 amTuesday night I had a rather unusual runin with somebody. I feel a little more intro is needed than just he beginning of the story because it starts with the rather uneventful situation of me walking down the street on tesday night and seeing a car.
Yeah, that was never going to grip you. The car was turning into a road I was about to cross so I waited and being nosey glanced at the occupants. I didn't see the driver but saw the passenger (who was on my side of the car) who was looking back at me. Then I crossed the road and continued on into Worcester.
I wandered to my destination and was foiled briefly by building works and as I started to double back on myself a young lad, probably early 20s I'd guess, student kind of age, comes up to me and asks if I mind talking for a bit.
I had no idea who he was but he was looking very agitated, nervous and something else I can't quite put into words. I initially took him to be a hyper stressed student. Somebody having a really fucking bad night and just out for a walk or something and just wanting to get his mind off work. He certainly didn't seem threatening (or at least I didn't feel threatened).
So I stopped and chatted. Asked him what was up and so on and so forth. He told me quite openly that he'd been in and out of hospital recently and was having a bad time. I can kind of sympathise with this. I've never had to go to hospital for any of my problems but I can relate to being in a real down patch and needing to get out of it.
I'm not sure exactly what was up with him in medical terms but what he told me gives the general idea. He told me that he thought he was going to hell. He told me this perfectly seriously such that I knew he beleived it but he also said it with just a hint of knowing that it made him sound a bit crazy. He was almost apologetic about it.
I tried to be as reassuring as I could, told him that you don't get to know about these things and that enerally repentance does the job of getting over this but I wasn't sure what I could say.
This all came out quite quickly in the conversation so we haven't been talking long. But it was when he said something about "You looked like a good person to talk to" that I realised that the vague hint of recognition was because this was the passenger in the car that had passed me down the road. For whatever reason he'd obviously decided that I was somebody he needed to talk to so he'd followed me into a college to chat.
I had no real idea how to proceed. I was mant to be doing stuff but I wasn't going to just tell him he was on his own so I chatted for a while. Turns out he was an artist and in hindsight I suspect that some of his problems were probably severe enough for a proper full time job to be beyond him (I'm not dissing artists, I just get the impression he didn't make a living from it so much as a hobby). After about ten minutes his dad comes along which is a great relief since I now know there is somebody to look after him - I suspect thinking you are going to hell is a good reason not to try to kill yourself or be that extreme but I suspect also that its not going to stop self harm or a number of other things.
I had told him I was busy and explained a bit of what I was up to and talked about roleplaying. He seemed interested and asked if he could come along and although I told him he'd be welcome I suggested that it would be awkward that evening and gave him a website url instead so he could contact people if he wanted to. He headed off with his Dad not long after that.
It was a very strange experience. It was scary in some ways because I could see a lot of me in his behaviours and some of what he said, I am very greatful though that I don't seem to have problems as severe as his. I don't know if I did manage to help him or not, I hope I did a bit at least. I also can't help but wonder what it was that made me look like a good person to talk to. Maybe just because I caught his eye as he passed in the car did it. It must have been a pretty strong feeling though to follow me 100 yards down the road and then track me through college...
I'm not sure what the point of this story is. I just felt it was something I didn't want to forget and therefore I should write down.
Yeah, that was never going to grip you. The car was turning into a road I was about to cross so I waited and being nosey glanced at the occupants. I didn't see the driver but saw the passenger (who was on my side of the car) who was looking back at me. Then I crossed the road and continued on into Worcester.
I wandered to my destination and was foiled briefly by building works and as I started to double back on myself a young lad, probably early 20s I'd guess, student kind of age, comes up to me and asks if I mind talking for a bit.
I had no idea who he was but he was looking very agitated, nervous and something else I can't quite put into words. I initially took him to be a hyper stressed student. Somebody having a really fucking bad night and just out for a walk or something and just wanting to get his mind off work. He certainly didn't seem threatening (or at least I didn't feel threatened).
So I stopped and chatted. Asked him what was up and so on and so forth. He told me quite openly that he'd been in and out of hospital recently and was having a bad time. I can kind of sympathise with this. I've never had to go to hospital for any of my problems but I can relate to being in a real down patch and needing to get out of it.
I'm not sure exactly what was up with him in medical terms but what he told me gives the general idea. He told me that he thought he was going to hell. He told me this perfectly seriously such that I knew he beleived it but he also said it with just a hint of knowing that it made him sound a bit crazy. He was almost apologetic about it.
I tried to be as reassuring as I could, told him that you don't get to know about these things and that enerally repentance does the job of getting over this but I wasn't sure what I could say.
This all came out quite quickly in the conversation so we haven't been talking long. But it was when he said something about "You looked like a good person to talk to" that I realised that the vague hint of recognition was because this was the passenger in the car that had passed me down the road. For whatever reason he'd obviously decided that I was somebody he needed to talk to so he'd followed me into a college to chat.
I had no real idea how to proceed. I was mant to be doing stuff but I wasn't going to just tell him he was on his own so I chatted for a while. Turns out he was an artist and in hindsight I suspect that some of his problems were probably severe enough for a proper full time job to be beyond him (I'm not dissing artists, I just get the impression he didn't make a living from it so much as a hobby). After about ten minutes his dad comes along which is a great relief since I now know there is somebody to look after him - I suspect thinking you are going to hell is a good reason not to try to kill yourself or be that extreme but I suspect also that its not going to stop self harm or a number of other things.
I had told him I was busy and explained a bit of what I was up to and talked about roleplaying. He seemed interested and asked if he could come along and although I told him he'd be welcome I suggested that it would be awkward that evening and gave him a website url instead so he could contact people if he wanted to. He headed off with his Dad not long after that.
It was a very strange experience. It was scary in some ways because I could see a lot of me in his behaviours and some of what he said, I am very greatful though that I don't seem to have problems as severe as his. I don't know if I did manage to help him or not, I hope I did a bit at least. I also can't help but wonder what it was that made me look like a good person to talk to. Maybe just because I caught his eye as he passed in the car did it. It must have been a pretty strong feeling though to follow me 100 yards down the road and then track me through college...
I'm not sure what the point of this story is. I just felt it was something I didn't want to forget and therefore I should write down.