This is not normally the sort of thing I would write about, but it was such an unexpected act of kindness and often we are surfeited with reports of the bad. So here's a little good. . .
Sunday evening I was on my way home from my parents' house, travelling the New York State thruway. I was short of cash to pay tolls and hadn't had time to get any before I left. At the beginning of the journey I stopped to fuel up and tried to use the ATM at the gas station, but it spent several minutes thinking about it before announcing that my account was invalid. So I left, counting on being able to use an ATM at a rest stop along the way.
And now here I was, at a rest stop much further along the way, contemplating an ATM which persistently told me it was unable to read my card, Swipe Again. No matter how many times I swiped again the same message flashed and disappeared.
Tired and a little annoyed I wandered into the adjacent gift shop. The woman behind the counter was talking with a man, but stopped and looked attentively at me as I approached. I explained my predicament and asked, "Is there any way you might be able to give me some cash?"
She shook her head, sliding her eyes away. "No, we don't do that here," she said, in a quiet but dismissive tone.
The guy she'd been talking to, who had watched this exchange, spoke up. "How much do you need?" he asked, pulling out his wallet.
Surprised, I shrugged. "I don't know, 20, 40?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Twenty I can do." He pulled two ten-dollar bills out of his wallet and held them out to me.
"I can write you a check," I offered.
He shook his head. "No, I don't need it," and walked away. I was left standing rather open-mouthed by the cash register as he purposefully strolled off.
"I guess that was what you call a 'random act of kindness'," I remarked to the lady, who simply shrugged.
So there you are. Some random guy on the New York State thruway took pity on a young female travelling alone and didn't do it for gain. Although human beings are capable of the most vicious acts of evil against one another, many are still capable of simple acts of kindness. And I certainly benefited from that one.