Stories from my Commute: The Diversity of Kindness

Boston has a real eclectic appeal. In part this is due to the annual influx of people into the area for college and university study. People worldwide are also attracted to work in Boston because of the technical sciences and health care industries. Boston’s history of immigration, ethnic neighborhoods, and present-day diversity representing much of the globe add to the sense of multiculturalism, and provide the variety of sights, sounds, and flavors of the city. While many view this diversity as contributing to an atmosphere of unfriendliness, this doesn’t describe the whole of my experience. Just in the past couple of weeks, I had a woman from Hong Kong, a man from India, a French Canadian woman, and a female and male of Western European descent from New England each offer me assistance. These individuals, not only represented diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, but a variety of life stages as well. One woman offered to cross a busy intersection with me, which was nice. People with low vision are taught to wait for the parallel traffic to start before crossing an intersection; however, the walk signal doesn’t always correspond exactly with this traffic flow. And besides, in Boston drivers and pedestrians alike don’t always pay much attention to walk signals. In this case, I knew the walk signal was on, but the parallel traffic hadn’t started yet. The woman simply said, “Would you like to cross with me?” Her offer was made with self-assurance that made being on the receiving end of the offer pleasant. A woman I see once in a while on my way home came up, said hello, and provided friendly chat as we walked toward our homes. Her friendliness is not only welcome at the end of a long work day, but allows me to get home with a bit more ease. In one of the other cases, a man asked if he could help me get on the train I needed at Park Street station; I was all set, but the offer was thoughtful. And still another guy let me know there was a baby carriage just inside the door of the train and I should stay to my left. This was a descriptive offer of help for not only me, but also the mother with the cute baby sleeping in the carriage. A final example was a man who approached an intersection where I was waiting to cross, paused beside me, and said you can cross now. These simple words were helpful because it was a crossing with no traffic light. It struck me this week how my disability opens me up to the experience of having brief but friendly interactions with people from a diverse set of backgrounds. These random acts of kindness have proven to be a hallmark of the Boston area and some days a real helping hand. As a bonus, these experiences give a true portrait of immigration in this country, and do not match the negative rhetoric I frequently hear.