Wednesday, August 15, 2007

RANDOM ACTS

It's all too easy to grow cynical and wary in this urban environment, but the outpouring of letters and e-mails that reach our desk reveals a heartwarming level of honesty, compassion and humanity. Maybe we're a more gentle species than city life suggests?

We were about to embark on our trip of a lifetime -- to Angkor Wat in Cambodia -- but when we arrived at Dulles Airport, our United Airlines flight had been delayed. There was no way we could make our connection in San Francisco to go on to Korea and then another flight to Cambodia.

To make matters worse, we were supposed to meet our best friends (the couple I had talked into making the trip with us) on that flight from San Francisco.

The employees at Dulles were overwhelmed with passengers trying to straighten out other problems, so we took the delayed flight and planned to work out alternate arrangements in San Francisco. When we arrived there, our flight was still listed on the departure board, so we raced through the airport to the gate. The plane was sitting right there, but the gate was closed, and we were told we were too late.

I begged and pleaded and then, in desperation, looked out the big plate-glass window at the plane and raised my hands in a plea. And the pilot, to the astonishment of everyone at the gate, opened the cockpit window and gave me the thumbs up. After several phone calls, the gate was reattached, the plane reopened and we were on our way. I offered the pilot a gift from duty free. His comment was, all he wanted was my heartfelt thanks. He has that and my eternal gratitude and renewed faith in the kindness of others.

-- Edith Ching, Silver Spring

I teach the sixth grade in Fairfax County at a school where buying school supplies is a struggle for many parents. I look for the discounts that stores offer on various school supplies around this time of the year. Glue sticks are on the supply list. On Tuesday, the Office Depot at the Beacon Hill mall in Alexandria had a "bonus pack" of four glue sticks for 25 cents. I took 16 packs up to the counter.

The clerk told me that unfortunately the limit was five packs. I explained that I was a schoolteacher and asked if she would please make an exception. The first act of kindness was that she did. In the meantime, a man who had overheard the conversation opened his wallet and said he would like to buy four more for me. I said no thanks, but he insisted. I now have 20 packs of glue sticks for my students to use this school year. True random acts of kindness.

-- Paul Adams, Alexandria