LIFE: Paying it forward

In July, a friend and I got to talking about the idea of paying it forward (returning an act of kindness from one person to the next person you come across.) I thought about that chat today when I dropped my Blackberry on the platform in the train station only to have it topple over the edge onto the nasty subway tracks. In the midst of my silent freak-out, a crowd gathered around me at the edge of the platform to offer their condolences. "That happened to me once, it sucks," a blonde woman said. "I'd jump down there and get it for you, but I'm too chicken," another man said with a sympathetic smile. And then out of nowhere, an older gentleman in a suit came running up, jumped off the platform onto the tracks and grabbed my Blackberry out of the nasty sewage water. To make matters even more dramatic, the train was literally pulling into the station. Fortunately, he managed to get off of the tracks without getting hit. That said, I had an "I love New York" moment (the t-shirt, not the VH1 show) thinking about how nice those people were to me, a complete stranger to them, at the train station. So I owe the next person I come across who needs it, an act of kindness. Hopefully it won't involve my having to get nasty poo poo subway hands. Can't do that.