They Walk Among Us

There is a network of good people right among us. We don’t know who they are, or where they are. We don’t know how they exactly work, but we know they like to stay unnoticed by the public because they chose to be anonymous. They don’t do what they do for a belief or fame. They just follow an inner calling. They follow their instinct because not doing something is just not an option.

They have always been there. They operate the same way in every country. They speak any language and have every color. Their gods have many names. They live with all traditions, in all cultures.

They are known to be unknown. Some lost their lives and they were willing to do so. A good example, the underground helpers, who made sure some Jewish people could escape the Nazi’s horror during World War II. They were hiding people in plain sight. They ‘moved’ people from place to place, willingly risking everything to protect them. They shared what little they had, like it would be the most normal thing in the world.

Quietly, doors open at night to take a battered woman and her children in, so they can escape an abusive situation. The helpers sometimes even collide with the law -because not doing something is just not an option.

There is a world of goodness out there, hidden, not willing to share -not needing to share. They don’t want a reward or social recognition. Their reward is the glimpse of hope in a stranger’s eyes. The knowledge that they might have changed someone’s life a little bit.

I have seen it. I have met some of them. I have witnessed it. I have gotten help myself.

We were driving behind a Mercedes in the evening. It wasn’t a special day, it wasn’t one of the Holidays that makes people more generous. It was a normal night, in a normal town, on a normal street. We were waiting at a red light. A woman opened the passenger door, jumped out, took off her jacket, and handed it to a young woman who was waiting at a bus stop. Then she turned around, rushed back to the car and they left when the lights turned green. It happened so fast.

There were no cameras around to take a video that could be shared online. A lady in her car just noticed a young woman waiting for the bus could have been dressed warmer. It was cold outside. When the traffic started moving and we drove by, I looked at the young woman’s face, holding a new jacket in her hands. I saw her disbelieve but also joy. She got up and put the jacket on. I turned around and I watched her. She had gotten a gift from a stranger she would never see again. There was no way to say “Thank you.” There wasn’t a camera around capturing the good deed. No photo was taken.

Things like this happen quickly and mostly unnoticed.

A young man in a car, handing a water bottle to a homeless guy. A woman handing out sweets to the addicts, because she knows it helps them coping with their addiction.

They are everywhere. They are fast. They are silent.

I needed to write about it before I will continue writing my own story about how we lost everything, and how we made it through a time of hardship and poverty. Losing everything, not having much left to your name is like falling of the earth. One more step, and you will dive into the abyss.

There have been helping hands, helping us and you will get to know a few.

I have heard people complain about the homeless and houseless, it happened recently in my neighborhood. They called the cops because a lady slept in her car nearby, and it made them feel unsafe. It did not even cross their minds to ask if she needed help -or perhaps just a warm cup of coffee.

On our neighborhood board they shared stories that some of THEM where just scamming people. They complained that some of the people begging for money, didn’t accept food -but didn’t bother to ask why? People these days judged harshly and heartless, and many came to the conclusion you can’t help anymore because you never know.

It is true. You never know. So what?

The GOODNESS is quiet, it stays hidden. It doesn’t judge, it even smiles if one might take advantage.

It’s a calling and they walk among us!

We lost it all, but what we gained from it, cannot be weighed with gold, or with money. I was allowed to look deep into the soul of human kind and what I saw, changed me.

I might come across as a rebel, as a bit complicated, as the fish that likes to swim against the stream, but I am also a woman who believes in the goodness of people -now more than ever before! Perhaps, that’s why I am so angry about seeing us so divided and so full of hate.

What a waste of energy and time!