Strangers stepped in to retrieve purse

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/09/2015 (3282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Recently, my faith in humanity was bolstered. I left my purse on the bus into work on Sept. 12 while travelling down Ness Avenue, a fact I only realized upon trying to unlock my office door.

I immediately called 311 but, as is often the case with lines like 311, I was put on hold. I went back to the bus stop and paced, becoming more frantic with every minute I remained on hold.

After 15 minutes, I was full-out panicking. I finally waved to a driver who was making the turn and explained what had happened.

The woman, without question, told me to get in and she would retrace the bus route until we found the bus.

As it happened, the bus passed us on its return to downtown. I jumped out but was unable to catch it. Thinking all hope was lost, and standing in the middle of the street (while still on hold with 311) and crying, the driver of another vehicle opened her window to see what was wrong.

This woman (who had her child in the back seat) also invited me into her car and proceeded to follow the bus around its detoured route and down Ness until she was able to get ahead of it to flag it down.

The driver recognized me. He had my purse sitting at the front with him and happily returned it.

A 311 operator did finally answer as I was in the second car and did everything they could to contact the bus driver and get him to wait, as I said we were following it.

I don’t know who these two kind women were. I will probably never see them again, and in all my panicking I never got the chance to properly thank them and let them know what a truly remarkable thing they did.

It may not seem remarkable to them or to others who were not in the situation, but it was. In a world with so much mistrust, hate and indifference, for not one but two people to stop — without obligation or personal gain — to help someone they didn’t know with a task as small as retrieving a stranger’s purse is not only remarkable but also heartening.

These ladies may never see this or even remember this in years to come, but I will never forget.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, not only for helping me, but also for the wonderful gift of reminding me there are still genuinely kind people in the world.

You truly inspire me.

Thank you again.

— Erin Osborne

Share your random acts of kindness by emailing: kindness@freepress.mb.ca