Faith in Humanity

Faith in Humanity

Two recent incidents have reaffirmed my belief in the basic goodness of people:

#1

Downtown Sacramento, lunchtime, one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the city.  I was carrying a wallet overstuffed with 9 credit cards, drivers license.ID and $400 cash from $20’ s to $1’s to provide tips on our anticipated trip to New Orleans.  Carolyn & I had attended an office fund-raiser and had left to return home without even noticing that my wallet was missing.

Shortly after getting home our phone rang.  It was our dentist’s office asking if I had lost a wallet.  The question was so absurd that I answered “No” before checking. I patted an empty pocket and immediately changed my answer. The dentist’s receptionist explained that she had gotten a call from a young man who had seen and retrieved the wallet and was now trying to contact the owner.   We immediately called the number passed to us by the receptionist and arranged a time and place.  I could imagine all he trouble we were going to have cancelling and replacing all the credit cards and the drivers license.  Trying to fly while getting new ID would be a real pain and absorbing the loss of $400 would not be insignificant.

When we got back downtown, the young man was waiting for us. He handed us the wallet and wished us a happy weekend. Without even looking at the contents of the wallet, we offered him a reward. He wouldn’t accept it.  We finally got him to accept $40 tor lunch.

As Carolyn drove us back home, I checked the wallet’s contents. I couldn’t see that anything was missing or even out of place. The man had been totally honest.

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#2 

Two days later, original travel plans still intact; we boarded a plane for New Orleans.  This was a time-share trade that we would either have to “use it or lose it” .  Carolyn was anxious to start her “retirement travel mode” having spent the past two months doing all the little thins around the house that had been awaiting her retirement. 

I, on the other hand, was more than a little hesitant.  You might be aware that I have Parkinson’s Disease, one symptom of which is difficulty in walking straight. As tourists we would need to transfer from our tour bus to a small boat or trolley or swamp boat, etc.  Even if Carolyn helped me, I was going to look drunk.  At our first transfer the tour guide called out, “We need someone to help this gentlemen.” No fewer than 6 members of our tour group, all strangers until now, immediately stepped forward.  One young woman took two steps forward, placed my hand on her arm and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Amanda and I’ll be your guide today.”  During the whole week, I always had plenty of help getting where I needed to go-usually from perfect strangers who live half a continent away from my home.

By the way, New Orleans is a great place to visit!