The kindness of strangers

The world is full of people who have gone out of their way to be helpful to me over the years. I’ve been reminded of how powerful kindness can be in the past few weeks as a relative stranger - a ‘friend of a friend’ who I’ve actually never met in person, just over e-mail and phone – has gone out of their way to help me out and as a result is making something extremely important to me much easier.

This truly is what makes the world go around.

Comments

[Ben Casnocha]

Agreed.

I really became aware of this spirt while traveling. I'll never forget my host in Rome who was a friend of a friend of a friend of a blog reader (who I had never met). Or the person who gave me directions -- by walking 10 minutes out of her way to point me down the right road.

It's inspiring.

[Shefaly Yogendra]

I think it is inside most humans to help others, but I also feel some of it is shaped culturally and may vary from city to city even within a country. My experiences with mid-western American people are positively different from those in Boston; and I found New Yorkers unfairly maligned as being rude and unhelpful. What you may get in Edinburgh, you will not find in London. And while a Calcutta person will walk with you to a spot 5 min away, a person in Mumbai or Delhi will look through you.