Kindness Of Strangers
Boarded a morning flight today at O’Hare. A major city airport is always managed chaos. My rule of thumb is to be kind to everyone that i encounter, the American Airlines ticket agent, the female behind the register at McDonalds, or the airline gate agent who needed to assign me a seat. Kindness is an approach that lightens the load for all of us. Who doesn’t appreciate when a bit of the friction is removed? Maybe the big-picture-stuff, the globally daunting problems could be dramatically reduced if everyone did their part to remove just a modicum of friction?
As always in the morning the tarmac was crowded with “time machines” that routinely transport us across a continent in the time that it took our ancestors to walk to town.
After achieving cruising altitude the view was striking, In the morning light one can still see the dark blue of the upper atmosphere, and the checkerboard of the cultivated, and citified-settled earth. Can you see the outlines of a river in the photo?
In the midst of running around to accomplish our mission in Durham, while moving slowly toward a parking lot exit, a driver passing along side began frantically blowing the horn. Rolling my window down I heard, “Look on your roof. I don’t think you want to lose that.” It was my cell phone. Distracted by the details of travel, I left my iphone above the drivers seat while placing things in the car. The kindness of a stranger saved me much trouble and expense.
Noticed that my wife was wearing nice dress shoes, that likely would not do for hiking. I suggested she consider purchasing a pair of sneakers. With the help of google we found a Fleet Feet store in Durham. In about 30 minutes Ben, the manager assisted her with the purchase of a very comfortable pair of sneakers. We chatted a bit at the register. He has three years toward an econ degree, at Univ. of Ohio and decided to “complete” his degree by taking a position with Fleet Feet Corporation. He expressed no regrets and told me a great story.
The world turns by virtue of the kindness of strangers.
