Random Acts of Kindness in Travel
Random Acts of Kindness
in Travel
“One of the great things about
travel is you find out how many
good, kind people there are”
“One of the great things about travel is you find out how many good, kind people there are” ~Wharton
I’ve written about the kindness of strangers before and how the people we’ve met on our travels have touched our hearts and given me even more faith in humanity. I am still amazed how kind and generous people are to strangers and travelers and often it feels quite surreal and magical.
There are really just too many stories of great kindness on our open ended world tour to share them all, but this is a recent one that happened in China. I don’t have a photo of this particular angel, but the photo I am using was another stranger/angel we met, who was so happy to talk to Mozart in Mandarin as we found ourselves serendipitously as the only non-Chinese at a large festival in Xian.
We met a most beautiful angel in Beijing! We had taken a bus, crossed a
large intersection and took a long subway ride to the home we were staying at our first evening, but got a little
confused in the dark and thought we got off the wrong stop. ( Two had
the same long Chinese name but one was south and one was north and we
were not sure which one was ours).
Mozart was spending her days and nights at the Mandarin school, so we are on our
own in an all Mandarin world unable to speak any Mandarin except thank you, delicious, hello and goodbye.
We asked a beautiful young girl if she spoke English and she said yes
and took over…said follow me. She found us a cab, took us to the local
home we are staying at, paid for the cab and refused to take our money.
Despite having a card and key to get in and her to talk to the security
card, they refused to let us in as the owner had not informed them that
we were coming. She called the owner and explained the situation and
then the owner explained it to the guard.
The taxi left without
her because it took so long in the cold, dark evening. She disappeared
with out us getting her name or photo and the guard led us to our
correct complex ( amongst many towers in the dark).
This is the
kind of blessed life we lead. Traveling the world lets one realize that
there are angels every where. We found so very many in China! ♥ ( We did want to take her out to dinner and since our new friends had her phone number on their cell phones now, they invited her, but she lived very far away and was only in this neighborhood by accident, so we didn’t see her again).
Have you given or received any random acts of kindness?
Thank you for this! And how true, how true! I wish I could remember one particular “random act of kindness by a stranger,” but over the years there have been so many wonderful people at home and abroad who have show so much compassion and willingness to help. It’s unfortunate that the mainstream media focuses on the anomalies… or perhaps that’s exactly why they do: random acts of kindness take place by millions towards millions every single day. 🙂
I hope she can read your blog and this post. she did it very well, just after the Dao De Jing which said: just doing good, especially the good result. 善者果而已.
So happy you liked it Barbara! Yes, people are much kinder than we give them credit for I think.
We’ve had amazing random acts of kindness at home and abroad. That kindness fills my heart with gratitude and I try to pass it on!
Thanks Winser! Yes, we felt Lao Tzu presence VERY strong during our time in China!