Kindness of Strangers

The anniversary of 9.11 always makes me a little introspective.

Yesterday my friend was talking about a friend of hers who was assaulted, and no one around helped. And this, plus Operation Find Don, got me thinking...I have been pretty lucky throughout my life, and greatly benefited from the kindness of strangers.

While I am sure there are more, the first one I remember is when I got mugged in Sevilla. As the person who grabbed my wrist from behind dragged me for a while ran away, two people, a couple, immediately ran to my aid. I don't think they ran after the guy, but they stayed with me to make sure I was ok, and walked me over to the police station, staying with me until I was settled. These folks took time out of their day to help me...

More recently, I was walking Luca and there was a pit bull tied up outside a shop. I trust that owners don't leave vicious dogs unattended, naive perhaps, but usually I am right. This particular dog didn't look to scary, but he was definitely eyeing Luca from the moment we came around the corner, and while I tried to steer clear, the dog broke free from where he was tied and rushed at me. I struggled with my dog, while this pitty was jumping on top of me. A man who had come out of the coffeeshop saw this occurring ran over to get the dog off of me, while a woman ran in to get the dog's owner. They could have just left me there, but didn't.

From a more broad perspective, there are men and women doing their job every day to keep me safe. And while I may not agree with the reasoning, the fact is they are doing their job as best they can. And for this, I thank them.