Angels Among Us

Last night the three families in my travel group thought it might be nice to go out to dinner together.  We decided to try a TGIFridays, since we've all had our fill of Chinese food for a while.  So off we go by taxi to the restaurant, only we needed three taxis to take us all there.  We were only able to get two.  One family and my sister decided they could walk to the restaurant, it was only 3 km away.  Sounded reasonable.  Somehow the directions were not clear and after an hour+ of walking, they headed back to the hotel to wait for us to return.  We took a very long time to get to the restaurant, but had a good meal once there. Coming home however, we weren't able to get a taxi.  Getting a taxi has proved to be challenging here in Beijing.  We considered taking the subway home although that can be quite an adventure when one doesn't know where exactly they need to go and they can't read the map because it's all in Chinese!!!  Eventually a woman walking by stopped to ask if we needed help.  She was a beautiful soul, helping us get to the subway, and eventually when she couldn't help us any further, flagging a young man down who could help us to get home.  Folks, there really are angels among us.  This young man not only took us to the subway, he helped carry the stroller up and down MANY MANY flights of stairs in and out of subway platforms, stayed with us until we got to our hotel.  It took us almost an hour and a half to get home and he stayed with us the whole way.  It's not that we were scared or in danger, we would have made it home by taxi or walking eventually but the kindness this man showed to my family astounded me.  When we got to the hotel, I offered him some money and he refused to take it. Absolutely refused.  Thank God there are beautiful people in the world and I can't wait for the opportunity to pay this kindness forward.  We could all take a lesson from this young man, and when we see an opportunity to help someone, take an opportunity to help someone.  I'm sure he went home last night feeling peaceful with himself knowing he bestowed kindness where it was needed.