Darius Herbert, a Form Four student of Trinity East, was running late for school on Wednesday morning so he decided to take a short cut down Henry Street in Trincity.
Little did 16-year-old Herbert know, this detour would make a big difference in his life.
While Herbert was walking briskly to try to get to school on time an elderly gentleman also walking down the street stopped him. The elderly man asked Herbert to tie his shoelaces for him.
“In that first moment I was kind of sceptical but then I saw that he had a walking stick and he told me he could not really use his hands properly,” Herbert said. “And when I looked at him I realised he could not really help himself so I got down and tied his lace for him.”
After he finished tying the man’s lace, the man thanked Herbert.
Herbert continued on his way to school thinking nothing of the situation.
What Herbert did not know is that a woman named Nadine Ribeiro who was driving her car along Henry Street on her way to work saw him on his bended knee tying the elderly gentleman’s laces. Ribeiro stopped her car and took a photo. She then posted the photograph to her Facebook account.
“This impacted on me as I made my way to work...a student of Trinity East on his way to school stopped to tie the laces of a senior citizen preventing him from tripping and injuring himself.....well done... parents have done well,” Ribeiro wrote about the situation. The photograph went viral. More than 3,000 people liked Ribeiro’s photograph while 6,000 more shared it with their friends.
Herbert, however, did not know what was going on.
“By the end of the day, I was called to the office by the vice principal (Brian Wickham) and he was telling me I was some kind of internet superstar,” Herbert told the Sunday Guardian.
“I really didn’t know what he was talking about because I’m not really on any social media, so he showed me the computer screen. I was not aware that anyone had taken a picture. I was one of the last people to know because this was about seven or so hours after the incident.”
Herbert said he could not understand why people were so taken aback by the gesture.
“At first I was kind of like okay, because I did not understand what was the big thing about it. I was not expecting that much attention for something like that and I was not expecting people to take that and run so far with it but nevertheless, it felt nice to get recognition for something good,” Herbert said.
On Thursday, during an assembly for the Form Four students Herbert was recognised by the school for his kindness.
“I was called up and they enrolled me in the honour roll and I received a medal which is something our school does to recognise students.”
His form mates also applauded him.
Herbert said what guided his decision to do the right thing was the “golden rule”.
“We as the youth have a stigma that is given to us, that says we are negative or disrespectful and have bad attitudes but at the end of the day, as my teacher said, I believe in karma, that once you do nice things that it will in some way shape or form return to you,” Herbert said.
“So do unto others what you would like them to do unto you and simply be the best person you can be and it will come back to you.”
Herbert’s parents, Eric and Nicole, and his five siblings are all proud of him.
“When he was honoured his reaction was basically it was no big deal, he did not see it as a big deal because it is something that comes natural to him and even though he may not be much of an extrovert, I think he is confident in himself and that is definitely a quality he has,” Herbert’s form teacher Tabhiry Men-Kau-Ra said. Kim Cleveland was Herbert’s teacher for the first three years at Trincity East. Principal Derek West is the principal of Trincity East.
Herbert was named the student of the week at the school and he is currently being considered as a prefect at the school.
