Kindness: Helping an old person cross the road.

The case that set this project in motion was rather cliché, but no matter.

This day happened to be the first big snowfall of the season; I was eating a cozy brunch with Husband and Friends at a restaurant in the neighborhood. An older man walked by the window on our side of the street, and I thought, "that must be tough, walking with a cane on slippery, snowy sidewalks." I guess he turned around at some point, since I later noticed him across the street, walking in the other direction.

At first he was walking on the sidewalk. But then he decided to take on the road. (Note to southerners - sometimes you walk on the side of the road during snow because it's clearer than the actual sidewalk.) He progressed slowly up the block. Eventually he stopped. Maybe to catch his breath. Maybe to take in the scenery. Maybe to cross the road. Or so thought a college-age girl walking up the sidewalk near him.

She passed him, and then she turned back. She spoke to him. He made some motions. Toward the corner of the street. She then shifted her shopping bag to her left arm and took his arm with her right. She peeped around parked cars to look up and down the street. She held her hand out to slow an oncoming car and they began to slowly make their way across the snowy street. One step at a time. One moment of kindness at a time. Until they reached the other side and made their way up the sidewalk.

Up to the corner where I lost sight of them.