In the last few days, I’ve experienced authentic kindness from strangers. The opportunity came as a result of a big mistake on my part. I stopped at an iStore in the Charlotte airport to buy a bag tag for a new piece of luggage and in the process neglected to return my purse to its place in my carry-on, leaving it on the counter. Then I walked out of the store, then got on the next flight. Then got into an Uber in Houston. Then visited with family, then went to sleep. Then woke up the next day. And that was the first time I noticed I didn’t have my purse among my things.
And I didn’t remember leaving it on the counter in a store in Charlotte. In fact, I immediately assumed the worst. I was sure it had been picked out of my larger carry-on. Stolen. That’s the theory on which I operated when I started making calls to the airport. I didn’t know where to start so I dialed TSA, hoping someone there might help me get to the right person who could help. Juan is the guy who answered and now Juan is my hero. Even though TSA didn’t have my purse (I knew I didn’t lose it at the scanners), Juan helped me retrace my steps, talked me down from assuming someone had stolen it (“Ma’am, that rarely happens in the airport. Most folks are just trying to get where they need to go.”), coached me on how to describe my circumstances when I made other calls, and gave me all the numbers I might need. It was my conversation with Juan that made me remember the purchase at iStore in Charlotte.
Then … get this! … Juan texted me later just to check in and see if I’d made progress! And after a genuinely encouraging back-and-forth, he promised to pray for me in church on Sunday. He ended with this: “We need positivity and compassion in life.”
Yes, Juan. Yes we do. And I found it with a TSA employee in Houston. But wait … there’s still a purse to be found — one that contains pretty much all my important cards and IDs.
When I called the iStore in Charlotte, the person answering — a compassionate soul named Lauren — said, “You’re the one who left your purse? We’ve got it. Its here and its safe. How can we get it to you?” We talked through options (they’d be closed by the time I fly through again). She offered to ship it to me or even to take it home and keep it safe. She assured me no one had bothered the contents. I chose to believe her. There was too much goodness flying through the air for me not to want to lean in and contribute some trust and hope to the world. In the 2015 version of Cinderella, they got it almost right when Ella’s mother explained, “Where there is kindness there is goodness. Where there is goodness there is magic.” Perhaps more accurately, where there is goodness, there is a glimpse into the character of God.
My friend Talbot is the Charlotte resident who immediately agreed to pick up my purse and overnight it to me (making a trip to the airport on his day off … no small gift). When I called to ask the favor of him, he opened with, “Hey! I just prayed for you this morning!” What are the chances? Such lavish kindness.
Lauren met him in the pick-up lane at the airport. There were funds in the purse to (mostly) cover the cost because no one had taken them. The generosity of spirit all the way through was overwhelming. I wrote the managers of Juan and Lauren to share how kind they’d been, going above and beyond. How could I not? In an airport world, where people tend toward not making eye contact, it takes a minute to see what’s beneath the surface. Like waiting for your eyes to adjust when you walk into a dark room. But its there. And right about now, during a week when people have blown themselves up and plowed through crowds of people trying to make a point, we probably all need the reminder.
The truth is, there is still kindness in the world. There are still people who genuinely want to do the right thing, want to be helpful, want to perform well at their post, want to think and give beyond themselves. This week, three of them made what might have been a disastrous mistake on my part into an opportunity to see what’s still wafting through the spiritual air.
C.S. Lewis was right: God’s love is more than kindness. But kindness is a good start toward understanding the depth of His generosity. It is his character and we all have it, however damaged it may be, stamped into our beings. When it surfaces, like seeing the grain exposed in painted wood, its glorious.
