We often hear people say, “One act of kindness can change everything.” I never truly believed that until the afternoon I nearly lost my life on a busy Lagos road.
It was a scorching Tuesday. The traffic was loud, impatient horns blasting from every direction. I was rushing to a job interview, already late, clutching my folder of documents like it was my lifeline. In my hurry, I stepped off the curb without noticing the truck speeding down the lane.
For a split second, everything blurred—the sound of screeching tires, people shouting, my heart thundering in my chest. I froze. My feet felt like they were glued to the ground.
And then—suddenly—I felt a strong hand grip my arm and yank me back. The truck roared past, missing me by inches. My folder scattered on the ground, my knees hit the pavement, and I sat there trembling, realizing how close I had come to disaster.
The man who saved me was young, maybe in his late twenties, wearing a simple shirt and carrying a backpack. He bent down, helped me pick up my scattered papers, and said calmly, “You have to be careful. Life doesn’t give second chances like this often.”
Before I could even properly thank him, he smiled, waved, and disappeared into the crowd. No name. No explanation. Just gone.
I didn’t get the job that day—I was too shaken to even make it to the interview. But that encounter changed my perspective on life forever. I realized how fragile life is, and how sometimes God sends strangers as angels to stand in the gap. Since then, I’ve slowed down. I watch the road carefully, I breathe more, and I never underestimate the power of a single act of kindness.
That stranger will never know how much he gave me. He didn’t just pull me away from an accident—he gave me back my tomorrow.
