[AZ Foreman]

I was sitting in a shisha-shop in one of the lower-middle class neighborhoods of Alexandria today, and saw a blonde (and I think British) westerner (tourist?) walk past a homeless guy sitting on the street. On seeing that the homeless guy was barefoot, said European guy took the Nikes off of his own two feet and handed them to the homeless guy. The homeless guy tried to refuse, but the blonde dude pressed them into his grasp and said, in broken Arabic, انا لا محتاج. انت اكثر محتاج "I not need. You needing more" walked away. The homeless guy put the shoes on and ran over to blonde dude and hugged him. Blonde dude hugged him back, and walked away.
The homeless guy was crying, and so was I.

[Gail White]

Well, this makes my day. Thanks for bearing witness to the goodness of humanity.

[Jesse Anger]

Wonderful witness.

[Jayne Osborn]

"The homeless guy put the shoes on and ran over to the blonde dude and hugged him."

I was so relieved to read that; I was a little afraid that this was going to be "The homeless guy put the shoes on and ran over to the blonde dude and mugged him." (It would be like that in some places.)

It's always great to have one's faith in human nature restored. (On the news as I'm writing this is a programme about the two young British policewomen murdered in cold blood this week by a vicious killer. Horrible story.)

On a lighter note, we call females 'blonde', but a man with that colour hair is 'blond', so I thought your tale was about a woman at first!
(It cheers me to think that by far the majority of our species are nice people, AZ. The hateful ones are in the minority.)

Jayne

[James Brancheau]

Just Do It! Thanks for sharing that.

[Ian Hoffman]

Wow. Amazing.

[Kevin J MacLellan]

Hi AZ,
It is a remarkable tale and a wonderful event. I'm glad you got to witness it first hand. These things stay with you as so many other things don't. And thanks for sharing --as you notice, even vicariously, we all want to bear witness.

That said: I do hope you are taking every precaution to look out for yourself. You are a stranger in a strange land and, unfortunately and especially in these difficult times, you cannot count on the same spirit of brotherhood to be universal --there or anywhere. Right there in Alexandria, right now, you are a potential target of some very irrational and violent anger. (The very rational and very well informed anger will not pick you as a target!)

I ain't your big brother, AZ, but that is only cuz, . . . well, I ain't big. Take care for yourself and keep this in mind: the kindness you witness and share is not universal. Godspeed and good luck.
Kevin

P.S. If you don't make it, can I have some of your books?
(Hey, I just don't like to see things go to waste!)
kjml

[Siham Karami]

It was a relief to hear this story. Like Jayne, the "blonde" was a keyword for female at first (a sorry factoid) and I half expected a more confrontational conclusion. Not all recipients of largesse are so gracious. It's moving on both sides, the willingness to give, of course, but also the willingness to receive. Across cultural and rhetorical (stereotyping) barriers. There's so much of the opposite -- it's refreshing to hear this.

Best,
Siham

[Charlotte Innes]

Agreed! A little break from all the hatred in the world. Lovely. Thanks, AZ. However, I am always touched and amazed at how much goodness there is out there. Over the years, people have helped me out in all kinds of situations--have really put themselves out--and I've seen this happen to others too. What's interesting to me is, why does this always feel surprising?! Well, perhaps because the hatred and violence seems so pervasive sometimes, it really gets one down.

I was also interested in Michael's question: how does one put this into poetry? I wonder... Straightforward narrative in a poem is refreshing too, but yes, there needs to be some new take on the matter.

Just out of curiosity I looked on the web and came up with this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye (below). Some might think it sappy, but she does make a point about kindness without being too gushy. Does anyone else know any kindness poems?

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

OK, so there you are!
Charlotte

[Michael Cantor]

Sorry to be a hard-ass, Charlotte, but that one sounds very sappy and very abstract to me. I think one of the reasons that AZ's narrative works is that it is so specific, so grounded in two individuals and a specific act of kindness.