don’t talk to strangers

Current mood: disappointed

so i made a friend in my french class, actually everyone in my french class is really cool...that's beyond the point but pretty exciting for me:)

my friend yessica and i always meet an hour before class starts, and today she didn't arrive until 10 minutes before class...only with a scary story to tell us all.

she was walking to the library in central bogota, when she was stopped by a lady who needed directions. yessica tried to tell her where to go but then she suddenly got really sick. within a few minutes she stared coughing horribly and sneezing uncontrollably. within those few minutes a man approached her as well and the lady and the man got a cab and pushed yessica into it. they made her take them to her house and proceeded to rob her. they yelled at her to get all jewelry, money or whatever was valuable out for them...she didn't although when they said laptop, she brought out her brand new laptop and they took it. they grabbed her and put her back in a different cab and drove off. they ditched her up town and took her bag, with everything in it and her laptop. soo you're wondering why would she do all that...here's the scary catch when they lady went up to her to ask her for directions she must have thrown something in yessica's face that made her sick and makes you loose common sense. she remembers little parts of the whole thing. she eventually gained consiousness when she was ditched. when she did, she just sat on the sidewalk and cried, luckily a very nice man lent her money to call her mom, and she got home. she said that the rest of the afternoon she had been throwing up and had a massive headache. she considered not coming to class but she did. her bag that was stolen had her cell phone, her waller which contained her cedula (a very important colombian id), all her school ids and her school books including her notes from the whole semester.
i'm still stunned, but her experience has made me realize that i can't just talk to everyone and anyone on the streets. i don't live in ames anymore eh? in ames i could somewhat trust most of the 50,000 people while in bogota i can only trust a fraction of the 8,000,000. i mean poor people come up to one all the time to ask for money, i always try to give them a couple pesos or so...but now i just have to keep walking. that makes me sad, but i'd rather do so than to get robbed or even worse hurt in anyway. it's scary to think what they can do to people just to rob them...

it's an embarassment to humanity that people are lazy and so selfish to steal from others because they don't want or don't have a job. my sense of compassion has always told me that everyone, even if they're bad or do bad things, have some good inside. I have always felt that everyone has a good heart, some people just have to realize it. then things like this happen and i question my sense of compassion although i know that i won't change it...however, i do know that i will watch myself more and tell myself that this isn't ames, this is bogota. people are clever robbers in a city, i wish i was a bad ass and could punch them and run. :) i guess i'll work on that.

things like this happen in a city, i can't imagine living here my whole life. although my desires want to sent me to much more dangerous places, i hope to find more kindness that will change my world for the good and continue to keep my faith in humanity. that's all i can really do, i look forward to all the people i'll get to meet in my life but until then i think i will follow the first rule every kid learns, don't talk to strangers.