You know, it’s easy for an outsider to come along and say, “if it were me, I would have stopped to help that poor man”, but those are just words. Who’s to say that anyone else wouldn’t have done the same thing.

Getting this part of your life out and in the open is a good thing. Oh look, Iva’s human. Whoda thunk it??? There will be those who come along and read this and do the whole “shame on you” thing, but none of those people were there in that moment with you. I can’t say I would have done anything different. I might have, but then again, I might have been one of the many people who just stepped over him and went on about my business.

Don’t beat yourself up. I’m proud of you for getting this out. I’m proud of you for feeling bad (sounds weird), and I’m proud of you for moving on. As your friend said, it was probably inevitable that this man would die from his drinking. Use this part of your past as a lesson for the future. Though you couldn’t save this one person, maybe this story will save someone else.

I love you, my friend. And I am very proud of you.