3.08.2007

Tonight in New York City

My subway train approached the platform at 49th Street and 7th Avenue, and I hurried to find my preferred car for exit at my stop. I noticed that as soon as I started walking toward the train, a man's voice called, "Miss! Oh Miss!" but I didn't turn around. As I boarded the train, a big black guy with a weathered face and big overcoat ran up to me and said, "Miss, you dropped this." It was my subway Metrocard. I had purchased a weekly card only hours earlier, and now, I dropped it. I gave the man a thousand "Thank you"s.

As I disembarked my train at my stop, I noticed a white man approach a lone black woman who was waiting for all the passengers to exit the platform. She had a stroller, and a sleeping baby inside. She was looking at the stairwell, filled with bodies, shoulder to shoulder, exiting all at the same time. "Are you going to need help with that?" the man asked. The woman nodded yes. As I approached the stairwell, I saw him wait beside her in the cold.

***

LaMai says: Spread it around. It's good stuff. Really.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

witnessing random acts of kindness is one of the most enlightening things we can experience. You had a good day!

M said...

My favorite days have always been the ones when I can help tourists find places in and around Boston--especially when they're speaking French! It just makes me happy to know I'm contributing to some good in the world, no matter how small. And it always seems to come back to me tenfold in the days after.