Kindness of Strangers

Sometimes you notice a small thing and it helps you understand a larger truth, or at least what you imagine to be true.

Last night we were in our car, heading to the movies. The road was an uphill drive. Not a steep uphill that you’d think twice about walking, but sloped upwards nonetheless. At the base of the hill, a stop light, a man in a green t-shirt, probably in his 30’s and healthy looking. In a wheelchair. Another man passes by, walking briskly. The guy in the wheelchair calls out, they speak for a few seconds, and then the walking man steps behind the wheelchair and begins pushing up the hill. I can see them in my rear view mirror, the wheel chair’d man’s arms spinning his chair wheels fast, as the two of them work together.

It was obvious from their initial exchange that they did not know each other.

It was nice to see people in urban Portland interacting that way – helping each other.

I have a difficult time imagining the same thing happening in my home town, Los Angeles.

Sometimes I come to conclusions too quickly, but I’d prefer to think I haven’t here.