When they show New York in the movies, it’s usually sunny, beautiful days with clear skies, and impeccable  locations – historic brownstones and modern lofts with killer views of the skyline. The reality, of course, doesn’t look anything like that. It was a typical winter day, it was grey, cold and drizzling. Conscious of  my last UBER uber bill,  I was waiting for the bus. I only had about 16 blocks to go but walking in this disgusting weather with frozen rain spitting on you, was just not pleasant. The cold seemed to go right through me. The wind was unbearable. I felt the chill in my bones, even though I was wearing a heavy jacket with the hood up and gloves. I was checking the bus schedule on my phone when the bus whizzed right passed the bus stop, not even slowing down to pick me up. I was devastated, the next bus wasn’t due for another 16 minutes. Right then I heard a voice behind me: “MotherF**** he yelled, I hate when they do that”. I turned around to see an older gentleman, waving a fist in the air. “You can complain, you know, write down the number of the bus”. I waved my hand like I can’t be bothered with complaining, I just want to get home. Right then he said we can catch it at the next bus stop and took off running. I was kind of jogging behind him but he ran right through the red light, I was hoping he wouldn’t get hurt, and thank goodness, he did not. He caught up to the bus 2 blocks over at the next stop and held it for me while I made my way through the intersection to get there. He told off the bus driver and by the time I got there, the bus driver was apologizing and telling me I didn’t have to pay the fare. I climbed up onto the bus only realizing the gentleman was not getting on. I turned to him and asked if he was getting on so I can properly thank him for his help, he quickly said no, he just wanted to help me out. I reached out for a quick hug so as not to hold up the bus and thanked him, honestly and truly. It was unexpected and surprising but never forget, we have more good in this world then evil and if we help each other, we will all be much better off. I bet the good energy came back to him in some form, and someone helped him out when he least expected it. 

I try to be more aware of the people around me and if someone looks like they are lost or in distress, I try to help. I give directions to tourists, I buy food for our local homeless guys, I teach my daughter to do the same. Last week, she saw someone asking for money and she asked me if we can get them something to eat. As we were on our way to Trader Joe’s grocery store, I said why not. We approached the person and asked them if they were hungry. They asked for fruits. We bought bags of oranges and apples for our house and on the way back, we gave the person 3 apples and 2 oranges. They were sooo grateful, their face lit up and they were saying god bless you, god bless you. If you can help someone, your act could be more than just giving some fruits. It makes the person feel seen, feel like a human being.