Observing Strangers

It’s amazing what traveling can make you notice.

I find when I travel that I get a) very aware of my surroundings and b) very stressed out. The stress isn’t really anything I can do much about. It’s that fear of not being able to relax when you are supposed to be relaxing or of missing that next train because you decided to swing into the place with the latest models of car on display. It’s the fear of having to sprint in heels up and down flights of stairs. But those are things I can deal with. You live, learn and survive right.

What I’ve been noticing today, and indeed, yesterday is the kindness of strangers. The Japanese man in Tokyo who says ‘thank you’ in English when I tell him to go ahead of me because I’ll have luggage on the escalator and he won’t. The one year old Japanese baby who looks me right in the eye and nods as I say ‘hello’ in English then smiles when I say it in Japanese. The lady next to me on the plane who tells me how best to sleep in that most coveted of seats, the middle aisle on the exit row (muahaha I love me an exit row!). She then asks if and how I slept when it comes time to disembark. It’s in the little things you know, like the Junior High Student letting his teacher go to the toilet before him even though she got there after him.

I’ve been noticing that people will often actively go out of their way to help someone else. It’s one of the things that make us intelligent. We help each other. We have morals. We seek to do right by others, or should I say other humans at least. Even a 1 year old child knows when they are making someone else happy.

Just now I witnessed the honesty of a café staff member. She accidentally double charged a customer. When she realized she brought the money back to the customer. The customer was so shocked that she insisted that the money be put in the tip jar. The staff member replied with ‘are you sure? Oh you’re very kind ma’am’. Watching this interaction made me tear up a little I must admit (I promise you I am not soft, I am just very tired!!!!! うそ！). I like seeing people be kind to each other. It increases my esteem in humanity.

Part of the reason that I am traveling at the moment is because my aunt is unwell. Her job is an incredibly tough one. She sees the dark side of humanity daily. It’s no wonder she has become ill. I would too if I had to bear witness to such things every single day of my working career. I love my aunt and I know that it would please her to see the numerous random acts of kindness that I’ve seen in the past 36 hours.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also seen some of the slight more annoying sides of humanity in the past day too. Like a Japanese boy actively mocking my Japanese while I was within earshot me having attempted to help the flight attendants get this massive group of kids to move down the ramp and onto the plane so that other people can pass through. Or people pushing me out of the way because I’m foreign. I’ve also heard stories of how difficult it was to travel around Japan for an Australian couple who speak no Japanese whatsoever. They told me that they had no expectations but were still sorely disappointed. Darn. But all these things are outweighed by the huge list of random acts of kindness that I’ve seen.

I’ve even had someone who doesn’t know me at all go out of his way to find information I need about a university course I’m interested in for next and find a way for me to not have to live in (shock) Palmerston North for me. He didn’t need to do that and it was so kind of him.

So here’s the point of what I’ve been writing about. A kind act witnessed by a by stander will affect them too. You don’t know how your kind actions will affect all those around you and I think that’s great. I feel good this morning, maybe that’s the real coffee though, or is kindness the real coffee? Who knows? I’m now at the point of confusing myself.

Oh my goodness I just saw someone drinking beer at 7:30AM!!!

The end.