hope

Tonight I lost my wallet. Five minutes later, it was returned. This story is probably one of the best things that has ever happened in my life. It is certainly the most amazing act of kindness I have ever had the pleasure to experience. I never thought losing my wallet would give me hope in the kindness of human beings that I had once lost. 

I ride the train at least twice every week. Out of the hundreds of train rides over past seven months, I have been lucky enough not to have lost a single personal item. Living in Boston has its dangers, especially being a small, blonde girl. Blah blah shit happens when you walk around the city. It's a risk I love to take. I have been taught who to look for, what places to avoid, and what to do in certain situations etc, etc. I do not have the "it won't ever happen to me" syndrome because awful, unexpected things have happened in my life before and I'm not about to kid myself. I have reasons to believe that ALL people, no matter how kind they may appear and no matter what good they have done in their past, are selfish, greedy, and will do anything to get ahead. I could go into this a lot further, but it is not worth my time or energy anymore. At least not after tonight.

Here is my story that I hope will inspire you to have hope ~ if not for other people, then yourself.

I took the 5:18 train from Gloucester to Boston, MA. I was headed home from a long, busy weekend and definitely not in any mood to deal with anyone. My purse was especially full tonight - with my wallet, make-up bag, sunglasses, two scarves, mints, notebook, headphones etc. Once I found an empty seat, I paid for my train ticket and simply placed my wallet, filled with my life, on the top of my purse. My life meaning: [a dear-to-my-heart Marc Jacobs leather wallet] with more than a hundred dollars cash from tips, credit cards, three forms of ID, including my social security card, multiple bank account information, AND gift certificates. I honestly don't know what I would do if these things were gone. 

Anyways, the train arrived in Boston and I quickly scurried off. I walk at an abnormally past pace - most Bostonians do. The attitude is "I don't care where you're going, I only care where I'm going and that I need to be there faster than you can walk - so MOVE over." This is sad, but true. Usually I jump on the T from North Station and take it over to Park Street, but tonight I thought I'd treat my hardworking self to a quick, far too expensive taxi ride. I hopped in a taxi and right away checked my purse for my wallet. NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. This is where I had a mini-heart attack. I yelled at the taxi driver to stop, the car then screeched to an abrupt halt, and I flung myself with my bags of crap into the street. I then darted through traffic, sprinted into North Station, and hurried as fast as possible back to the track where I had just gotten off. I must have looked like a complete idiot, but I honestly could care so much less. As I was practically in tears, I heard two non-english speaking men yelling after me - chasing me. These men had no belongings, looked unclean, and again, spoke barely any english. Now this is where I was freaked out beyond belief, thinking I was heading into hell. I decide to stop and look back. One of the men was waving my wallet. At this point, I thought the two sketchy-looking men were going to threaten me blah blah but NO. The one who spoke the most english said they saw me drop my wallet and by the time they got to it, I was gone. (This is definitely true, unfortunately. Shit.) He continued to tell me that they split up and looked all around North Station for me. They finally saw me running down the track - and obviously came after me. Of course I grabbed my wallet from the foreign man's hand - that's when the tears started streaming down my face. I opened the wallet and found NOTHING missing. (I checked again and again once I got back home, but not a single penny is gone). I continued to cry and repeat "thank you, thank you" over and over again. I even gave the creepy man a hug - I figured if he didn't want to take my money or steal my identity, then he probably wouldn't try to harm me physically. There were cops watching, too. (hehe) I then walked away from the track with these two selfless men, telling them that they did an amazing thing tonight and they are appreciated more than they could imagine. I could tell from the look on their faces that they knew they had made the right, ethical choice.

I have to mention, I keep my wallet extremely organized. EXTREMELY. I keep my bills facing the same way, organized by amount, etc. I noticed the larger bills were out of order and a little folded. This leads me to believe that these men contemplated taking my money - Of course. You know what - they didn't. Something, I don't know what, told them not to. I just know it. And no one can ever explain to me what happened. And I love that. I love that this random act of kindness happened with no explanation. It's better that way. It may be karma - I'm a strong believer. It may be that they expected something in return. BUT whatever it was, I feel my goodness in life has been further returned to me. I feel all the times I have given money to people who may not deserve it - and all the times I have seen people loose things, then kindly help to return them - have paid off. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Before tonight, I had lost all hope in people. So much so that I don't even think the most innocent people in my tiny, crime-less hometown would have returned my wallet. I can't believe I'm saying this, but tonight happened for a great reason. I think I'm actually glad it happened. The tears and stress were worth it - because I now believe that there are still people in this world who care about others - strangers even. This may sound bad, but I felt alone for the longest time - alone in the way I care about people. I thought I was one of the rare kind who make decisions primarily to benefit other people. I'm a person who gains more pleasure from doing kind things for others and making others happy than doing something for only myself. I no longer feel alone.

I truly got to witness the unexplained kindness of the human soul tonight.

I hope my joyful, thankful tears gave the two strangers some sort of happiness. 

And I really hope my story can help you all to see that there are kind, selfless people left in this world.

xo.