The kindness of strangers

In this time of celebration and giving, people tend to look back on the year that is about to fade into memory and take stock. I got to thinking about it today and realized that it has been one heck of a year! There have been so many adventures, so many experiences that I will never forget, so many good times. But I want to write about today is the kindness that I have born witness to this year.

Now I’m not necessarily talking about the kindness of my family – I could talk about how I was welcomed into homes of relatives all over Canada and Australia. Picked up from airports at all hours, made home cooked meal after meal and felt the love of family all over the world.

And I’m also not really talking about the kindness of my friends. Friends who supported me and helped me in so many ways. Friends in Canada who went out of their way to help me research my Canada project. Friends in NZ who supported Sophie while I was away on the road – for what seemed like most of the year. Friends like Sarah in Tanzania who went out of her way to show us her adopted home and friends like Steve and Leyla who flew to from the UK to Paris to join us for the weekend. Friends like Andrew who invited me on his grand adventure – where we rode our bikes from New York City to Detroit.

No what I’m referring to is the kindness of strangers. This year I have been truly showered with help, assistance and comradeship all over the world. I’m not talking about huge things, but all sorts of little things that add up.

Little things like the people who lined the course of the Motatapu Marathon and cheered me into the finish – you have no idea how good that feels after running 42km!

The guy Andrew and I met near Niagara Falls, NY while we were bike touring who out of the blue offered for us to stay at his house for the night. Simply because he was a fellow cyclist; he offered his home to two complete strangers.

To the elderly gentleman in Paris who shattered the rude Parisians stereotype by going out of his way to help us find our way – even though we didn’t even ask him for directions and his command of English was almost as poor as our mastery of French.

To the guy at the Emerates desk in the Nairobi airport who left his desk, travelled into the bowels of the airport to find my bag and make sure that it made it onto our connecting flight – well it didn’t make it, but at least he tried!

To the woman in Tahiti who picked me up while I was hitching a ride, if it wasn’t for her I would have missed the ferry and my flight out of the country.

To the guy who gave me a ride in The Turks & Caicos after I was completely soaked by Tropical Storm Olga and in the middle of nowhere (check out the vid if you haven’t yet)

To all the people who have helped me research little towns all over the place, who never knew who I was working for and still went out of their way to help me.

There have been so many more examples that I could tell you about – just today a local guy here in St Lucia talked to a bus driver in Creole for me, to be sure I got dropped off at the right destination.

I don’t want to get on some sort of moral pulpit here, but in this world that is supposedly full of religious intolerance, terrorism and “bad people” I’ve experienced a year filled with people going out of their way to help strangers. So the next time you see somebody who looks lost, needs a bit of help or maybe just a few words of encouragement – think how you would feel in their place.

be the change you want to see in the world – happy holidays, and be well.
~Scott