Writing a narrative essay, hoping for some critique/opinions

I'm upgrading a lot of my high school courses in order to get into nursing, my main focus is obviously English at the moment. My current assignment has asked me to write a narrative essay about an incident that has impacted my life.

I wrote this in about thirty minutes, I'm mostly satisfied with how it's turned out, but I don't feel my opening/concluding paragraphs are as strong as they could be, particularly in my concluding paragraph and the thesis statement presented in the opening/conclusion. I bolded my thesis statement to make things a little simpler.

Narrative Essay

Ever since I was a young child, my parents, my teachers, and even my television role models have all emphasized this life lesson; always treat others with humanity and compassion. It has always been of great importance to teach your children the values of morality and empathy, it is after all, a vital aspect of human nature. Another lesson I have always been taught, is to always consider my own safety in difficult situations. These two life lessons I have always been taught, but there is a third lesson I was forced to learn by myself; it is not always easy to be both compassionate towards others while ensuring my own safety. To clarify, I have learned just how difficult it can be to make a moral decision when I feel personally threatened.

I recall back in May of 2011, it was an ordinary Spring day, blue skies, crisp air, and a pleasant absence of snow on the ground. I was driving my beaten up old Honda Accord downtown to a small restaurant in which I was to meet my co-workers for a casual staff meeting. Indeed, though the weather would be described as enjoyable, I did not see many people walking about the streets, for I was driving through one of the more shabby areas of town. Having located my destination, I pulled into a small empty parking lot. Nobody else was there it seemed, I figured I would simply wait inside the building for the rest to arrive.

I was just about to leave my car when something peculiar happened, there was a woman tapping on my window. I was not thinking properly, and most unwisely, I opened my door to face her. Before she even opened her mouth, I was alerted to the fact that something was not right. She had greasy unwashed black hair, smeared mascara surrounding already shadowed wild looking eyes, and a general demeanor of hysteria. I was taken aback by the sight of her, and though I had a strong desire to not partake in this encounter, I stood my ground to see what she wanted. She frantically began to tell me how her boyfriend had hit her, that she was scared, and most importantly that she needed me to drive her to her friend's house on the opposite side of town.

This was not a request, it was a plea of utmost need. If I was at all unsettled upon first sighting her, it was nothing to how scared and threatened I felt now. My sensibility had finally begun to kick in, I recognized that I would be putting myself in grave danger by assisting her. Keeping a cool head, I uttered the first excuse that came to mind, that I was in a rush and was merely stopping to get my bearings. I climbed back into my car, locked the doors, and drove away. I returned minutes later, immensely relieved to see the woman had left, and with exceptional caution I exited my car once more and entered the restaurant.

Fear is what had struck me most when I first encountered her, fear for myself and not for others. It wasn't until I had sat down at my designated table that the reality of the situation dawned on me, many questions popped into my mind. Who was this woman? Was she really hurt? Did she really need my help? Was I a horrible person for disregarding her? I had made my decision to refuse her, but in doing so I had not acted with compassion as I would have liked to. It is with a humble nature that I have recognized that sometimes I will be forced to judge others unfairly. I know in my heart that I would never have given her the chance to prove herself trustworthy. I have learned that under immense pressure, it is very difficult to make a decision I truly feel is the right one.