Nurturing Thursday: Kindness

My Paris trip was a last minute trip and so I decided to relax and spend time with my family instead of thinking much about photography. Though my family is supportive they are not photographers 🙂

Anyways, I am going to share my experience of talking with a stranger. One day my husband and I were eating breakfast. All tables were busy. An old lady (she was not very very old but old enough to be a granny) asked me if she can sit with us, which I accepted. Still we were busy in our own world, talking light. Suddenly something happened to me and

Me: “can I ask you a question”?

She: “Yes, sure”.

Me: “” We three are sitting on a table but my husband and I are talking to each other leaving you alone.  But then I am not sure if you like to talk to strangers. So do you like talking?”

She: Ohhhhhhh….. (hard for her to talk, she used her handkerchief), thank you so much for thinking about me. Actually I really wanted to talk to someone but…

I thought she will start sobbing. She took a few minutes to gather herself, then she explained her situation. She was in Paris with her friend for a week. First few days were fantastic and then suddenly her friend got sick. Her friend had been taken to emergency medical care. The appendix got ruptured  and spreaded infection. The hospital was not that near to the hotel and it was difficult for the lady to cope with this sudden situation. I tried to console her which she appreciated very kindly. She told us about her family in the US and how badly she was missing her husband. She said this was her first trip without her husband. Before saying goodbye she thanked us again and said she was feeling much better. She had a nice smile while saying goodbye. We felt good that we could be of some help to a stranger.

This incidence reminded me of the quote by Saunders

In 1957, Saunders wrote the line, “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans,” usually attributed to John Lennon. It appeared in a 1957 issue of the Reader’s Digest.

For Nurturing Thursday  I would like to share this quote:

Smile at strangers and you just might change a life ~Steve Maraboli

Someone is posing for a shot near the Louvre palace.