Day 763: Happy New Year

 

Sorry for the extended absence, my friends. It’s been a tough year filled with company bankruptcies, family illnesses, hang nails, and general ennui.

But I saw a double dose of good deeding today and just had to share.

The first dose happened just steps from where I took this picture. You know those car chase scenes in movies where one car bumps another and, next thing you know, it’s a 50-car pileup?

Well, imagine that but with good deeds and that’s what I saw today.

I was walking along Yonge Street on the way to the subway and saw a parcel delivery guy up on the corner up ahead trying to lift his overturned cart. It must’ve caught a wheel on a bump in the sidewalk and all his boxes and parcels were spilled all over the road.

And almost in slow motion, I saw one guy spontaneously stop to help him, and then another, then another, even a lady in high heeled boots. And then I reached the corner and joined in, helping him lift two parcels back into the cart.

It was magical.

Everyone just spontaneously stopping and helping him out. No hesitation, no conversation, just a reflex of goodness all around. It restored my faith in humanity in that moment, let me tell you.

And if that wasn’t enough to melt my frozen, wintry heart, something else great happened when I got off the subway.

There was a tiny elderly Asian lady, struggling toward the exit with her cane, hunched over and shuffling her feet. And, of course, when the crowd of us got to the escalator, it was broken, so she had to take the stairs.

As she shakingly took the hand rail and started to take her first step, a young man leaned down to ask her if she needed any help. She thanked him but waved him off, and everyone slowed down and gave her space while watching that she made it down okay.

A good day in Humanville. Hope yours was good, as well.