Email a Friend
Print Article
The Kindness of Strangers
Tennessee Williams had Blanche Dubois deliver that famous line in "A Streetcar Named Desire" where she says something like, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers."
Today, I saw that kindness in action and it was truly touching. An elderly woman, somewhat disheveled and with missing front teeth, fumbled with her large shopping bag at the counter of a well-known coffee shop. It was obvious to anyone that, as she took napkins and tucked them into her bag, she didn't have money for coffee, but she couldn't ask for anyone's help. She was dependent on the kindness of strangers and, as I watched, I knew I was going to step in.
A young man dressed in casual clothes, sandals on his feet and with a book bag slung across his shoulder, stepped out of line and asked, "Would you like something? Some coffee or something to eat?" She looked at him, not seeming to understand. This fellow was someone not of her race and, in fact, he looked Middle-Eastern. She hesitated and he asked again in a low, pleasant voice.
'Yes, I'd like coffee and maybe..." and her voice trailed off almost as though she didn't want to ask for too much. "Yes," he said, "and a bagel or something?" She spoke just above a whisper and indicated that she'd like a bagel with butter. He told her not to worry, that he would get it for her and she continued shuffling her bag on the floor, uncomfortable as any of us would be if we were in her position. A seemingly broken woman, she still clung to some sense of self-esteem. I didn't detect any hint of a "user" about her.
I looked at the guy and I said, "That was very nice of you." He replied, "I can't see someone like that, especially a woman. It's not right. We never know if we'll be in that place some day. Life is so uncertain."
Recently, we heard a great deal about how a new study showed that we are more alone and lonely, more disconnected from each other than ever before. The study also seemed to imply that this disconnection had made us lose some of that "social glue" we used to hear about. We had become impersonal and self-absorbed and lonely as a result, it concluded.
I think the researchers need to look at this simple vignette that involved only two strangers but was evidence that we do care for each others, we may not show it as we did before.
Related Topics: The Science of Good Deeds, Elders Reveal Keys to Healthy Aging
Technorati Tags: kindness, pay it forward, good deeds, loneliness
Today, I saw that kindness in action and it was truly touching. An elderly woman, somewhat disheveled and with missing front teeth, fumbled with her large shopping bag at the counter of a well-known coffee shop. It was obvious to anyone that, as she took napkins and tucked them into her bag, she didn't have money for coffee, but she couldn't ask for anyone's help. She was dependent on the kindness of strangers and, as I watched, I knew I was going to step in.
A young man dressed in casual clothes, sandals on his feet and with a book bag slung across his shoulder, stepped out of line and asked, "Would you like something? Some coffee or something to eat?" She looked at him, not seeming to understand. This fellow was someone not of her race and, in fact, he looked Middle-Eastern. She hesitated and he asked again in a low, pleasant voice.
'Yes, I'd like coffee and maybe..." and her voice trailed off almost as though she didn't want to ask for too much. "Yes," he said, "and a bagel or something?" She spoke just above a whisper and indicated that she'd like a bagel with butter. He told her not to worry, that he would get it for her and she continued shuffling her bag on the floor, uncomfortable as any of us would be if we were in her position. A seemingly broken woman, she still clung to some sense of self-esteem. I didn't detect any hint of a "user" about her.
I looked at the guy and I said, "That was very nice of you." He replied, "I can't see someone like that, especially a woman. It's not right. We never know if we'll be in that place some day. Life is so uncertain."
Recently, we heard a great deal about how a new study showed that we are more alone and lonely, more disconnected from each other than ever before. The study also seemed to imply that this disconnection had made us lose some of that "social glue" we used to hear about. We had become impersonal and self-absorbed and lonely as a result, it concluded.
I think the researchers need to look at this simple vignette that involved only two strangers but was evidence that we do care for each others, we may not show it as we did before.
Related Topics: The Science of Good Deeds, Elders Reveal Keys to Healthy Aging
Technorati Tags: kindness, pay it forward, good deeds, loneliness
