Ouch

Alright this is off of memory as best I can do. So today I am coming home on the T with Matt, who came out for drinks with the team cause tomorrow is Elena, my fellow co-op,’s (don’t come at me about the grammar here), last day. Side note, Elena, you were such a fantastic person to work with, your work ethic was inspiring, you brought 110% to everything that you did, you are an incredibly respectful person, I had such a wonderful time being your fellow co-op and I am really going to miss Smartleaf without you. Also, where am I going to get all my culture, food, and workout recommendations now?! Thank you for a stellar 7 months and I can’t wait to hear what crazy cool stuff you do after you finish at Northeastern.

So I get off at Mass Ave, start walking towards home, but I am in a weird mood so I decide to wind my way through the Southwest Corridor, stop to watch a few at-bats of a kid’s baseball game going one, walk to ISEC and walk around inside, which is something I have never done, walk out the back and down the walk way, all the while listening to some dope symphonic music from John Williams and Howard Shore. I come up to IV, and see these stone tablets. I have noticed them a thousand times, but never stopped to read them. My co-worker told me that I really should stop every once in a while and smell the roses. Well, close enough. They are these old letters that people wrote home to folks. All the authors of these random letters are from Roxbury. I am almost done with the third of four letters when I see a guy starting to lose control of his bike. I turn around just in time to see him catch the pavement with his peddle, then clip the bike rack. WHAM. This dude flips the handlebars, his bag goes flying. Fair warning, what comes next is a bit of description that might make people feel uncomfortable. Its not really bad, but I wanted to say something so as not to blindside anyone.

This dude has a “nice” cut above his left eye about a centimeter tall, at least that much deep, and about an inch in length, and he starts bleeding pretty bad. Another person runs over to help, and I run over. First thing that comes to mind is, “How to stop the bleeding?” I am wearing my Red Sox polo, but underneath is your average white tee shirt, a dime a dozen at Walmart, so I rip my shirt off to give it to him. This dude, without hesitation says, “Nah man, I have a shirt, I don’t want to ruin yours.” Next I ask if he wants me to call an ambulance, and quickly he says, “Nah man, I don’t have insurance, I would get charged like crazy. Is it going to need stitches?” “Yeah dude, at least 3–5.” “Ouch, rough.” By this time, the bleeding has mostly stopped. I suggest we head over to NUPD (Northeastern University Police Department) and he agrees. As we’re walking over I ask him a couple questions (are you woozy, are you hurt anywhere else, etc.) and he’s fully alert, fully aware. This dude took this hit like a champ, and it really just sucked for him.

NUPD takes one look at him and tells him that he really should go to the hospital, that it’ll leave a scar if he doesn’t, and to this guy’s credit, he was so polite in refusing their help. One officer kept trying to get me to take him, but this dude was resolute in not going. Apparently this was his 7th concussion, has been hit by a bus in September, skating accidents, biking accidents, all this crap. This was a walk in the park compared to a few things he mentioned that had happened. NUPD cleaned him up a bit, slapped some bandages on him, made sure that he was in a right state of mind, gave him some ice packs, advice, and some extra band-aids.

I want to give a quick shout out to NUPD. These folks work around the clock to make sure we feel safe on campus, and if anything were to happen, they will be there in a heartbeat. I have only had to call them a couple times and they are incredibly professional, non-judgmental, respectful, and well-equipped/well trained. I really appreciate what they do, they are a great group of officers and they really do make me feel like I can trust them to keep me safe, and in a crisis that they will respond. Thank you NUPD.

This dude lives on the hill, so I walk back with him, chatting with him, making sure he’s still okay. He tells me a bit about his life, why he’s in Boston, his job, all that jazz. He’s still going into work tomorrow even though he’s definitely concussed, with one eye swollen shut, but at least he doesn’t have to work weekends. He points out that I don’t have to walk back with him, that he should be okay, that he doesn’t want to inconvenience me, and my response is, “Hey man, I get to have a good conversation, its a beautiful night, and I have leftover Tortilla Soup (shoutout to Ciana) in the fridge, you’re not keeping me from anything.” He chuckles and says alright, and we keep walking.

We finally get close to where he lives and his girlfriend meets us. You can tell this isn’t the first time that he’s been in an accident (none of which I got the impression came from doing something dumb, it really just seemed like bad luck) by the way that she reacts, and the care that she says things to him really struck me that they cared a lot for each other. There wasn’t judgement, there was a really apparent mutual energy of, “Hey, stuff happens, we have each other though and that’s really all that matters.” Yes, I could very much be reading way into things, but I really think that she would have reacted differently if that wasn’t the case. She turns to me quizzically, wondering who I was, and I just said I was there when it happened (did my typical, “Hi, I’m Robey” shakes person’s hand). She tells him that it’s time to get him home and just takes his bike from him. I could tell that he was in capable hands, she definitely knew what to do if anything happened. The dude thanks me and shakes my hand, and then I turn around and walk back towards my apartment. I got home at around 9, and decided to write this all down.

Jacob (not saying your last name cause I didn’t ask for permission or anything to write this), I hope you feel better man, have a relaxing weekend and fingers crossed that everything works out okay. Thank you Tess? (I think that was his girlfriend’s name?) for being a champ of a significant other and taking care of this guy. Thank you NUPD for being awesome. Thank you random girl who also stopped to help.

To all of the candidates that are running for the 2020 presidential elections, congresspeople, representatives, state government, healthcare officials, whoever. Please lower the cost of healthcare and give it to everyone. No one should have to turn away medical attention because they know that they are going to be charged like crazy for it. That’s not right, please help fix this system. For you voters out there, by all means vote for who you think should be the president, elected official, etc., but please advocate for equal access to healthcare and affordable medical treatment. We’ve got one of the best economies in the world and the resources to put towards making this efficient, cost effective, and available for all.

Alright folks, I am going to play some guitar, hopefully get a bit better at playing The Star Spangled Banner. And of course, a quote, “Good Luck” from Taken. Yeah… I know… not my best, but its all I’ve got. Goodnight everyone!