helpless to help

i am walking down residency road towards brigade road, just out of crossword. i've just spent some quality time there and my mood is all upbeat. I'm bouncing down the pavement watching the world, singing to myself. Some distance ahead, i see a confused family looking quizzically in all directions. apparantly they are lost. My first reaction is to develop a desperate urge to help them in whichever way i can. But i can't just barge into them and suggest that i could probably give them directions. You never know how they will take it. Who knows they might not even be lost. So suppressing my altruism, i silently walk past them. wish they had imploringly looked at me. It would have been such a good feeling to be of help.