Laura and I had just returned from a weekend away and were searching for a place to park in Capitol Hill.

The man on the street corner in front of our apartment building held what appeared to be a long leaf, or maybe a feather, like a broadsword. It looked as if he were attempting to start a fire — like a confused caveman unsure of his tools and what he was doing in the heart of Seattle.

We searched for an open space, circling around the area for roughly 10 minutes. Of course, a spot cleared about 15 feet from the man. Good spot, bad timing.

We sat in the car longer than we usually would, watching to make sure we were safe to get out and grab our luggage. He would move along. At least, we hoped he would. His shaggy unkempt hair made it hard to see his eyes.

Did we want to help this man? Sure. I suppose. There are plenty of homeless people in the Seattle area that need assistance. Some are on drugs, others suffer from mental illness and a few might just be unlucky. But, in the unrefined darkness of a few street lamps, this didn’t seem like an appropriate time to find out. Or even to be compassionate.

That’s when I asked myself, “What would the Mormons do?”

So, later, I called Sister Webb and asked.

She told me a story of a time on the mission when she approached a drunk man — she’s not good at noticing when people are drunk, she said — who kept grabbing at her hand and face, straddling her bike and telling her to kiss him. She and Sister Pearson rode away, slightly raddled, but also not defeated.

“I would try to help as best as I could, but there is only so much you can do,” she told me. “At night – I guess I would have to follow how I feel. Definitely heavenly Father would help me if I should need to help — if I felt that was what I needed to be doing to help him or her. If I had an eerie feeling and felt this isn’t safe I would probably keep going. You don’t want to put yourself in harms way.”

Part of what I learned in my three-part series about biking with the Mormons is that there is nothing wrong with helping, or just talking to, others. Even when it is difficult or easy to pass over. That doesn’t mean you should try to be a superhero. It’s more a reminder of the incredible feeling that comes with being conscientious to others simply for the sake of it. That makes sense to me.

I don’t mean this with any religious connotations or as any kind of endorsement for proselytizing — that’s not my job or my mission. But as a journalist, I think it’s important to jump into ideas with an open mind and try to pass along a learning experience if there is one to be had. Over my eight-plus hours with Sister Webb and Sister Pearson, I not only learned a little about the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but also of the sisters’ true innocence and sincerity towards others. I’m glad that there are people who volunteer their time to help those in need. The sisters admitted they know they are sometimes taken advantage of in that regard, but they also feel it’s their job to help. Even if for only 18 months. And they can feel good about that. I’d like to think that is true no matter what religion you’re representing.

Hopefully my stories are representative of the good that can come from belief, whether you think Mormons are wonderful, evil or somewhere in between.

Laura and I ended up walking past the shaggy man, eyeing him the entire way, as he harmlessly paced along the street. We didn’t help. We didn’t talk to him. We looked at him as threatening.

But as we walked, I told Laura that I wished we didn’t have to treat people that way. She agreed. Safety first, but humanity needs to be a close second.

I’m glad we talked about it.