I was running to the gym, careful not to trip on the icy patches. As usual, I was running late. Somehow, the closer you live, the later you start out. The streets were mostly cleaned off the snow yet there were icy patches in spots. The temperature was 20, the weather app says it feels like 0. 

Running downhill i saw an elderly woman with a cane, changing direction to intercept me. I slowed down. She’d asked in heavily accented English for the Russian Consulate. The accent was unmistakable, and so were the clothes. It’s something inherent to all immigrant communities, this innate ability to recognize our own. We can usually tell who belongs to “our” group. There was no question we both hailed from the former Soviet Union. 

I responded in formal Russian. People who speak other languages, such as Spanish will know what I mean, it’s a respectful, more formal way of addressing someone. Having tu as friendly “you” and Usted as the more formal  “You”, to show respect, especially when speaking to someone much older. 

I knew exactly where the Russian consulate was located, I took my grandmother there more than once. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the park, on the east side of Manhattan. The distressed woman told me the cab driver brought them all the way from Brooklyn and dropped them off on the West Side without a second thought. I knew I had to help. I started searching for the Uber and of course, the app was glitching out on me. I was trying to think of a way to get the woman to her destination safely. Right then her husband came around the corner, also with a cane, and of course, too proud to ask for directions. At this moment, I saw an open cab going down the avenue. I told them to hold on and ran to catch it. I told the cab driver their story, he was also an immigrant and felt for them, promised to get them to the door safely and turned up the heat. I loaded both of them in the car and saw the cab off.

I was late to my gym class but I was so happy to help. It cheered me up to no end and took me out of my zone, of spinning out into negativity over something I was harping on. It made me feel so hopeful to be able to make a difference in someone’s day, to get them out of the cold safely. When I got to the class, my friend was holding a spot for me, thinking I’m going to show up late and it was sooo appreciated. 

Kindness begets kindness, good energy sent out into the universe comes back as good energy, in so many forms.