Cultural Journal 2 - Helpfulness

We’d been told before going to Belfast that people in Northern Ireland were even more friendly than their Republican counterparts. We saw this a few times during our stay, but nowhere more so than the “ATM Incident.”
Haney and I were in search of a cash machine so that we could get some lunch before our bus back to Dublin. We asked at a stall near the entrance to the market, and were told by the woman that she didn’t know the area well enough. We left the market and walked up one block, asked at a pub and were told there was one the other way, on the other side of the market block. We walked to that block and saw nothing, so we asked at another pub and were told it was further up. Finding nothing, we asked at Subway and were told there weren’t any in that area, and would have to walk back closer to City Center to find any. We did eventually find one in a SPAR store, but stumbling across it we had a surprising experience.
We saw a woman and her daughter (I assume) leave the market and walk towards us. As they passed, Hany asked if she knew where we could find a cash station. She stopped to think, then said that she didn’t know much about that area; the only one she knew of was towards her home, and further than she thought was worth walking. She then asked us if we would like a ride to the ATM and back, as her car was just up the road. She offered a ride to two complete strangers with luggage, both male foreigners, and she with her daughter and shopping in hand. I was blown away. We turned her down, and her daughter suggested the train station might have one, and we parted ways, but the incident stuck with me. I can’t even conceive of offering a ride in that situation, and I’m a pretty nice guy. The idea that an average American asked the same question would make that kind of an offer is pretty much laughable – it would be a huge drain on our time and, in our minds, outright dangerous. This wasn’t the only example of the people of Ulster being extra-helpful, but it was the most surprising. It’s hard to believe, with their violent history and neighbor-on-neighbor conflicts, that they would be so eager and willing to help out a local, much less an outsider. Maybe it’s a desire to prove that they’ve grown out of the violence, putting a smiling face on an area once considered dangerous to visit. There seems to be something in the Irish character that lends itself to trust and helpfulness, and Ulsterites (?) seem to have an extra 10% of whatever that is.