Reading the headlines and watching the news you would think NYC has the market cornered on crime, especially in the subways . Granted some terrible things happen here, but terrible things can and do happen everywhere. Maybe its because bad news sells more papers and gets more media attention but luckily I’m not trying to sell papers or trying to promote any story on TV, instead I just want to share another reason why I love the Big Apple.

   I took the Uptown One train to 86th Street today for a 1:00 meeting. As I started walking up the steep flight of stairs to street level at 86th Street (since every subway is underground, every stop has a steep flight to climb), I saw an elderly woman pulling a large portable grocery cart behind her as she struggled up the steps (I know, I know, but she looked a lot older than me!). She was pretty far ahead of me but moving slowly, so I thought maybe I could reach her and offer to help. As she got to the first landing, however, a woman who was coming down the steps and saw her struggling, turned around and, although I couldn’t hear the conversation, by her body language I knew she offered to help. The older woman gratefully relinquished her cart to this good Samaritan who was pausing in her rush to catch her train.

 Such a nice story, but wait, there’s more! As the kind stranger reached the second landing a young (and very handsome) guy who had obviously witnessed everything stopped in his rapid descent, turned around, said something to both women, grabbed the handle and effortlessly whisked the cart the rest of the way up the steps. Rather than just leave it he waited patiently for the woman to reach him. The owner of the cart, the two good Samaritans and I, coming up behind everyone, met at the top. The Samaritans were all smiles as the cart owner profusely thanked and blessed them. Then they both quickly headed back down the two flights of steps to continue their journeys. Having witnessed it all, I was also all smiles, especially when the cart owner exclaimed, “look what just happened, who says NYers aren’t kind?”, and then blessed me as well. The entire incident couldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes but it definitely colored my world today.