A sore hip and a sore elbow. That’s what I have as souvenirs from the heat exhaustion and fall I suffered at UMass that fiercely hot afternoon. But more salient is the immediate assistance and kindness I had from three UMass students. After determining that I was capable of getting up and hadn’t hit my head, they stood me up, collected my belongings and helped me to a nearby cool building. They called the campus police. A policeman arrived and a town ambulance. They stayed with me as all this took place, and one even went out and bought me a bag lunch!

Eventually, I was driven in the police cruiser to where I could recover in a colleague’s office and eat my lunch. Even in this day when civic strife dominates our experience, I came away from this with a warm feeling for my benefactors and the essential goodness and kindness in most of us.

Peter Lillya

Amherst