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The kindness of strangers
Jan. 20th, 2011 01:46 pm(Crossposted from Zoe's blog.)
One cool thing about having a baby is that it has given me a new perspective on people's willingness to help strangers.
The elevator up to the library was broken this morning, so I picked up Zoe and folded her stroller to schlep it up the stairs. A woman stopped to let me know I'd dropped my water bottle without noticing. Then, seeing I had my hands full, she ran down and retrieved it for me.
On the way home I was just going to bump the stroller down the stairs, but I only made it down three steps before a woman coming the other direction grabbed the other side of the stroller and carried it all the way down.
Those are little things, but they happen to us almost every day, from small gestures like holding doors open for the stroller to bigger ones like the woman who held Zoe for 20 minutes to keep her entertained on a long flight. Wherever I am, there is usually someone around who's willing to go out of their way to make my life easier.
This is something I notice more now that I'm a mom and more often could use a hand in public, but I don't think people are only helping me because I'm a mom. Before I'd even made it to the library this morning, I saw a man a block ahead of me take off his coat and hand it to the woman he was walking with. I was curious why, since it's not exactly shirtsleeves weather, but then I heard the sound of an engine turning over. A car had stalled at an intersection and the driver couldn't get it started. The man tapped on the back window of the car, motioned the driver to steer, and then started pushing the car out of the intersection.
You hear lots of stories of communities failing in this regard, of crowds ignoring assaults and passers-by failing to intervene in medical emergencies. Those things happen and are tragic statements about human nature. But it's nice to be reminded of the other side, too -- that most people, seeing a new mom struggling or a frazzled driver unable to start her car, will rush to help without a second thought.
One cool thing about having a baby is that it has given me a new perspective on people's willingness to help strangers.
The elevator up to the library was broken this morning, so I picked up Zoe and folded her stroller to schlep it up the stairs. A woman stopped to let me know I'd dropped my water bottle without noticing. Then, seeing I had my hands full, she ran down and retrieved it for me.
On the way home I was just going to bump the stroller down the stairs, but I only made it down three steps before a woman coming the other direction grabbed the other side of the stroller and carried it all the way down.
Those are little things, but they happen to us almost every day, from small gestures like holding doors open for the stroller to bigger ones like the woman who held Zoe for 20 minutes to keep her entertained on a long flight. Wherever I am, there is usually someone around who's willing to go out of their way to make my life easier.
This is something I notice more now that I'm a mom and more often could use a hand in public, but I don't think people are only helping me because I'm a mom. Before I'd even made it to the library this morning, I saw a man a block ahead of me take off his coat and hand it to the woman he was walking with. I was curious why, since it's not exactly shirtsleeves weather, but then I heard the sound of an engine turning over. A car had stalled at an intersection and the driver couldn't get it started. The man tapped on the back window of the car, motioned the driver to steer, and then started pushing the car out of the intersection.
You hear lots of stories of communities failing in this regard, of crowds ignoring assaults and passers-by failing to intervene in medical emergencies. Those things happen and are tragic statements about human nature. But it's nice to be reminded of the other side, too -- that most people, seeing a new mom struggling or a frazzled driver unable to start her car, will rush to help without a second thought.
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