Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Priceless Smile From An Old Lady


--by perseverance, posted Jun 11, 2008

I was at a busy traffic junction waiting to walk over to the other side when the green lights come on.  There was a family, a man, his wife and an elderly lady, waiting to cross with me. Both the man and his wife were chatting endlessly while the elderly lady was engrossed in staring at a banner with a picture of a child and a mother, which brought tears to her eyes. 

Then, the lights finally turned green and all of us rushed to cross the road.  The signal was very short, so the lights changed to red in no time.  I noticed that both the man and his wife had crossed along with me and the elderly lady was left behind.  She seemed to panic as the other two had already crossed and were continuing on without looking back.  I quickly realized what was happening and signaled the elderly lady to wait. 

When the lights turned green again, I ran over to the other side, offered her my hand, which she clasped with an iron-like grip, and  motivated her as we quickly walked together to the other side of the road. As a precaution, I used my left hand to stop any oncoming traffic so that even if the crossing signal turned red, we could make it over to the other side safely. In the mean time, both the man and wife realized that they had left the elderly woman behind and came running back. The elderly lady was in tears and said to me, “You are more than my son,” and gave me a warm handshake before parting company. The man and woman were apologetic at what happened and also thanked me profusely. While taking leave of me,the elderly lady flashed a big bright smile, which I cherish even to this day.  She kept waving and waving until we lost sight of each other.

Her priceless smile made my day!

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Readers Comments

Chinese students wrote: This is our topic. I am a middle school student. It is a very good passage,but. My qq is 1141165621
Sanyogita wrote: Awesome....What a kind deed to help elderly women to cross the road.
Bhavneet Arneja wrote: Thanks my firend!

"the best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. "--william wordsworth
marysol wrote: You're great. There are few people who have initiative to do that. You prove that there are still many people who willingly helppeople.
Oluchi wrote: Wow, you just made my day. We never know how much people needs us until we slow down and take the time to notice that person standing right next to you. Thanks for taking note.
Mwewa wrote: I think that was the most beautiful thing you did that day!
Sanjay wrote: Nice story i could almost imagine it :) im glad you could reach out to that lady and im sure the couple too!
Namita wrote: Felt nice because one day it will be us trying to cross the roads with no hands in sight. You truly have a reason to smile.
followerofHim wrote: Jesus said it, "these are my mother, my brothers, those who do my Fathers will." Her words were quite weighty and true! You must hear His heartbeat, keep listening!!!! This was beautiful.
maer wrote: Wonderful! All it takes is to have open eyes and an open heart sometimes. In this hurry-scurry world, we need to re-train ourselves to be on the look-out, right?

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