The kindness of strangers

With a 35lb wiggly two year old in one hand and an umbrella in the other I walked in the driving rain to preschool this morning while dressed in my nicest slacks and black leather shoes as I mentally prepared for the funeral that I would be presiding at in just an hours time. The walk is probably not much more than a quarter mile and I prefer not to drive anywhere that I can walk to, but today I had considered it. About halfway to the school I saw a man in a silver VW golf pull over and start backing towards us. I didn't recognize the car or as it turned out the man inside it, but it was clear that he was pulling over to talk to me. As I pulled even with him he rolled his window down and offered us a ride to where ever we needed to get to. I was touched and inspired by this stranger who saw us getting quite wet despite the umbrella and offered to help. I declined since we were only about one hundred feet from our destination, but I thanked him profusely for stopping and offering to keep us dry.

A couple of years ago when my eldest (is seems funny to refer to her as that since I sometime still can't believe I have another daughter who I hope will come home from the hospital soon) was born I wrote an article for the local news paper about how babies bring out the best in people. People smile more and traffic comes to a halt when a person with a stroller wants to cross the street, but today I don't think it was because I was carrying the cutest two year old on the planet that this man stopped. I think he stopped because he saw someone who might need his help and he had the means to help. It made me think about how great the world would be if we all did the same. Imagine a world where everyone who sees someone in need and who has the means to help is willing to stop, even if just for a moment, and offer what they could, what a world that could be. Not everyone would take the help and not everyone we think is in need is actually in need, but I believe that even the offer effects us. To encounter the willingness to help can be more powerful than the help itself.

I believe that all people have in them the kindness that the man in the silver golf had, but it's nice when people are willing to let it out.