Kindness: At the Subway Station

Every morning you commute into work in one way or another. Maybe you drive your car, maybe you ride your bike or maybe you take public transit. And there are those people you always see - the couple that runs up to the bus stop with just seconds to spare; the familiar black Volvo that pulls into the parking deck the same time as you; the tall, jolly-looking guy that gets on the same subway car every morning.

Before I got married, I lived near a major subway stop. Down in the station, there are the usual gate agents and ticket machines. But are were also a small scarf stand, a magazine / newspaper stand and a man selling the charity newspapers (here, we call them Spare Change).

As you take the towering escalators downstairs, you can see the Spare Change guy, Harold, at the bottom, smiling, quietly peddling his livelihood. He’s homeless and trying to work for what little money the job can provide him. This Christmas, a few people who regularly ride the commuter rail at that station started talking. They decided to pool some money as a gift for Harold. They got their co-riders in on it. And they were able to give him about $300. He was so surprised and incredibly grateful for the generous gift. He was able to buy a new winter coat, which is great because it’s been an extra-cold winter so far. It’s amazing what people can do when they get together with kindness in their hearts.

Another kind act at the station came from Al, the newspaper salesman. He sells papers and such to the commuters as they rush by in the mornings. The Haitian earthquake this week was an awful event for an already-destitute nation. So Al decided to take up a collection; he put out a jar to help with the relief effort that’s just now beginning. Kindness initiated by one man a world away from the heat and destruction, up in the snowy calm of New England.

*note: These two guys’ stories are not first-hand, but were relayed to me by a co-worker this morning.