Last night I was on the Acela (the US version of high-speed rail) back from New York City to Boston. Upon boarding the train, I sat opposite a woman of similar age or slightly younger than me. We chatted off and on through out the ride vacillating between working and mindless conversation with each other.
As we were approaching Boston, a young woman walked over to us and inquired "Are you familiar with Boston?"
Apparently she needed to take the commuter train from Boston's North Station and was a little distressed she'd miss the train since the Acela from NYC had left 45-minutes late (due to the quake in DC earlier in the day). It sounded like she only had about 15-20minutes tops to get to North Station, purchase her ticket and get on board the train. I suggested that she not wait for the metro and opt for a taxi which would be easy to get and provide her with faster transport to North Station. She looked relieved after I assured her that the taxi ride would only be 5-10 minutes and they would accept her credit cards (apparently she had no cash)...
I thought that was the end of the conversation (and so did the she) until the woman across from me suddenly spoke up and said to the woman visiting, "excuse me - I noticed you said you only had a credit card with you and were afraid you wouldn't have time to get to an ATM machine"... the young woman who had just turned to go back to her seat looked a bit sheepish and said, "That's okay - I'll use my card for the taxi"...
Without skipping a beat the woman across from me pulled out a $10.00 bill and said "please take this to help you with your commuter rail fare. They won't take credit cards on the commuter train and if you're running late this will help." I think the woman visiting from NYC was so taken off guard by the random act of kindness she almost fell over. After a few more minutes of the woman insisting she wanted to give her the extra cash the woman accepted the offer.
It got me to thinking... $10.00 is not a lot of money. However, the gesture was a significant one. It helped this stranger visiting Boston immensely and it reminded me that people do choose to do the right thing. Should a similar situation arise again in the near future - I plan on being the person offering the stranger in need the proverbial $10.00.
How will you react when you find yourself in such a situation in the future?
8 comments:
Great story! They happened more often then we think! I wonder what impact it would have on our society if we'd only show these kind of stories on prime time tv news show!
A great story. Thanks for posting it. I agree $10 isn't very much, compared to what it was worth to that visitor. That woman had impressive insight and walked the walk. Bravo.
This is the worst Forum letter I've ever read! It started out so good...
I love this! Simply being kind can have the most amazing positive effects.
That was nice
It doesn't take much effort to do something nice.
Nice story. Reminds me of a time about 8 years ago when I was living in NYC with a friend. I was home alone and went downstairs to check the mail, not realizing that the door to our apt. locked behind me and I had neither my keys nor my phone with me. I panicked briefly and then started knocking on neighbor's doors to see if anyone had a phone I could use. I got to about the third door and a middle-aged guy answered. I explained my predicament and he offered to let me use his phone so I could call my roommate. However, I then realized that I did not know my roommate's cell phone number! This guy suggested that I go to the cafe across the street and wait until my roommate got home. I told him that was a good idea but I didn't have my wallet either, so this guy gives me $20 and says don't worry about paying him back. He then put a sticky note on my apt. door, telling my roommate to come find me at the cafe when he got home. The next day I put $20 and a thank-you note in an envelope and slid it under the guy's door. We moved out two months later and I never saw the guy again.
I was born in East Podunk, Fly-Over country. I had a rather backward upbringing.
Years ago, as a naive, young adult, I visited New York City. I got on a bus in Manhattan. I didn't realize that one needed exact change, and I had nothing near the required fare.
An elderly Jewish man got up and handed the correct fare to me. I remember his kindness to this day. I had been taught ignorant things about Jewish people. This man's act of kindness helped erase my ignorance.
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