Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Sitting in my Outlook inbox was an updated LinkedIn profile of Bogdan, who now lives in Bolivia. I sent him a message today as part of the Day 2 kindness challenge.  We stay in touch only a couple of times a year nowadays, but for a few years we were like brothers- still are really. The story that connects Bogdan and me is what I would like to share. It reminds me that I should send a Day 2 challenge greeting to Marcello, who now lives in Prague. 

Here is what happened:

In September 2011 I traveled by train to Stockholm. I was visiting 2 friends who were to meet me at the train station. I stood there waiting for my first friend to arrive and in the midst of all the hurrying commuters that Friday afternoon, I heard a faint voice, it sounded like a question. I turned and saw a young black man (maybe 20 yr old) standing with a white cane, his suitcase by his feet. I approached and asked

"Do you need help?"
"Yes", he replied, nodding his head, appearing relieved.

He had been trying for some time, unsuccessfully, to get someone’s attention. He had missed his train home. His cell phone battery was dead, and he needed to call his mother to tell her of the circumstances.

This young man, I found out, had just completed his first week at a school for the blind in a Stockholm suburb. He arrived on Mondays and returned home on Fridays. Of course I helped him call his mother.

I did not recognize the language he spoke with her on my cell phone, but they both spoke good Swedish. Of course the next problem was finding the right train home and getting word to mom on the new arrival time. Yet in this chaotic train station, I did not want to miss connecting with my friend who was on his way to the spot where we were standing.

Before I could dial the number to get word to Bogdan (my Romanian friend) he was suddenly already there. I described the problem and Bogdan took the young man’s arm and we were off on our adventure to help get Mustafa home. While sorting out where home was, what train, what time, what track, my second friend calls and wonders where we are.

I help him find us thru all the masses of people and this friend, Marcello, speaks 12 languages. He finds out very quickly that Mustafa is from Somalia and begins a dialog in Arabic with the young man. Bogdan called the mom with train information, in Swedish. Marcello called her later with more details and spoke Arabic with her.

We were now off to find the train platform, the 4 of us: an American, a Rumanian, an Argentine and a Somalian. We were having a grand time. There is a half an hour wait for the train, but his uncertainty was over. I had a baseball glove and a baseball with me and I put it in his hands and told him a little about America’s favorite pastime. We joked about asking a girl on the train to pose as his girlfriend to surprise his mom—he had a good laugh.

Then it was time to help him onto the train and Marcello took the lead. He decided on the first class cabin, and in the doorway turns left (not right) to help Mustafa find a seat.

There is a woman already seated in the same row. She immediately recognizes Mustafa. Why? How? Turns out she was a teacher at the School for the Blind, and Mustafa was her student!

If you don’t see randomness in this story of an act of kindness I understand completely. There is a divine hand at work. My role is to see Mustafa as not separate from me. My two friends...my helpers... though we are not brothers in blood, are definitely one with me and they think this and know this!