I have to admit that the next story is somewhat personal for me, because it describes almost *exactly* how one of my two cats came into my life.
So please bear with me as I describe this act of kindness for a little kitten who happened to be spotted by the right person at the right time. I love the story, because it shows how several people made the conscious choice to put their Friday night on hold... to save a stray animal.
An employee with a District Attorney's office in Pennsylvania walked out of her work building for the day, when she spotted a stray kitten run past her, onto a busy street.
"When I saw him, I thought to myself, we just have to have a happy ending tonight," Cathie Abookire later told a reporter.
The kitten ran into (thankfully) stopped traffic, and found what it probably thought was a safe hiding spot... immediately in front of the wheel of a car waiting at a traffic light.
Abookire and another DA employee ran into the street and pounded on the window of the car, urging the driver not to go when the light turned green. As they did this, the kitten ran away to a parked car--- and promptly crawled up into the car's engine.
Not the best hiding spot. ;)
The parked vehicle happened to have a Judicial District parking permit and a phone number, so Abookire called the number. She eventually hooked up with the car's owner and explained the situation.
The owner, Ray McIver, came to the scene and opened up the hood. And ASPCA workers were eventually able to coax the kitten out of the engine.
All of this happened over the span of three hours. Not the way that most people would want to spend their Friday evening-- especially after a long day at work. But the rescuers of Turbo the kitten (named so by her heroes) decided it was time well spent.
"Without all the right people - big hearted people - well, all the right things had to happen," Abookire later said.
The kitten, by the way, is doing well. :)
As I mentioned earlier, this is amazingly similar to how I discovered my cat. She was less than four weeks old when a cameraman at my station discovered her in our station's parking lot... which was surrounded by three very busy roads, and a highway.
The cameraman spotted her and tried to catch her, but she made her way into his vehicle's engine. He practically took the engine apart trying to get to her, and brought her inside.
She managed to draw quite a crowd in our news room. She was so tiny her eyes had just barely opened, and she was shivering from fright.
I held her in the palm of my hand (she was that tiny), where she promptly curled up and fell asleep. I was hooked. ;)
She's now HUGE. And happy. And still around, eleven years later. :)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Erasing Hate
Sometimes the simplest act of kindness can bring the greatest joy.
This past weekend in Revere, Massachusetts, some unidentified vandals spray-painted messages of hate on the B'Nai Israel synagogue. Bright red hateful words and symbols confronted the synagogue's members the next day as they made their way to their service and a breakfast.
Marilyn Dorfman was horrified.
"It was really sickening," she told Boston TV station WBZ-TV. "The information on the kitchen door also was very reminiscent of things that you saw in concentration camps in Nazi Germany."
She and other members tried to push away the pain as they went inside for their service.
When they came out afterwards, an unidentified man was just finishing up painting over the offensive markings. No one had called him. He had just shown up with paint that was amazingly close to the beige color of the walls--- and went to work.
Ira Dorfman says he tried to get the man's name. "He wouldn't tell me. I said 'May I take your picture?' And he said, 'You can't.'"
The man finished the job, packed up his supplies, and drove away.
Members say the gesture was so moving, it made up for the hateful words they had seen on their way in that morning.
Still no word on the identity of the mysterious stranger.
This past weekend in Revere, Massachusetts, some unidentified vandals spray-painted messages of hate on the B'Nai Israel synagogue. Bright red hateful words and symbols confronted the synagogue's members the next day as they made their way to their service and a breakfast.
Marilyn Dorfman was horrified.
"It was really sickening," she told Boston TV station WBZ-TV. "The information on the kitchen door also was very reminiscent of things that you saw in concentration camps in Nazi Germany."
She and other members tried to push away the pain as they went inside for their service.
When they came out afterwards, an unidentified man was just finishing up painting over the offensive markings. No one had called him. He had just shown up with paint that was amazingly close to the beige color of the walls--- and went to work.
Ira Dorfman says he tried to get the man's name. "He wouldn't tell me. I said 'May I take your picture?' And he said, 'You can't.'"
The man finished the job, packed up his supplies, and drove away.
Members say the gesture was so moving, it made up for the hateful words they had seen on their way in that morning.
Still no word on the identity of the mysterious stranger.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Passing the Flying Money "Test"
Today's story is short, but sweet. :) Another example of how someone's faith in humanity was restored by several people stepping forward to help someone they didn't know.
The city of Torrance, California is one of the southernmost cities in Los Angeles county (as well as one of the county's largest). It is part of the huge metroplex that makes up what locals call the Southland.
And as an incident last month shows, the city is also filled with people who do the right thing.
70-year-old Ludwig Geier went to his local bank and withdrew several thousands of dollars in cash. He held a thick envelope as he left the building.
When he walked outside, he stumbled and fell. More than 200 bills flew out of the envelope, and started swirling around the parking lot and into the street. Ludwig says he couldn't possibly have retrieved the money because he was wearing flip-flops and couldn't move very quickly.
But he didn't have to worry, because about a dozen bystanders started chasing the quickly-moving bills... and brought them back to him as they caught it.
Geier was touched. He says those who helped him retrieve his money were from all walks of life--- ranging from kids to adults, people from various races, seemingly from all walks of life. He was able to get back 96% of the money he'd lost.
"I can only say I'm going to put a prayer out for them," Geier told the Torrance Daily Breeze. "If I could get them together, I'd buy them dinner and drinks."
The city of Torrance, California is one of the southernmost cities in Los Angeles county (as well as one of the county's largest). It is part of the huge metroplex that makes up what locals call the Southland.
And as an incident last month shows, the city is also filled with people who do the right thing.
70-year-old Ludwig Geier went to his local bank and withdrew several thousands of dollars in cash. He held a thick envelope as he left the building.
When he walked outside, he stumbled and fell. More than 200 bills flew out of the envelope, and started swirling around the parking lot and into the street. Ludwig says he couldn't possibly have retrieved the money because he was wearing flip-flops and couldn't move very quickly.
But he didn't have to worry, because about a dozen bystanders started chasing the quickly-moving bills... and brought them back to him as they caught it.
Geier was touched. He says those who helped him retrieve his money were from all walks of life--- ranging from kids to adults, people from various races, seemingly from all walks of life. He was able to get back 96% of the money he'd lost.
"I can only say I'm going to put a prayer out for them," Geier told the Torrance Daily Breeze. "If I could get them together, I'd buy them dinner and drinks."
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Compassion over Greed
This is another story from New York city, taking place in the heart of midtown. It's a story of not just one, but two people who each had a clear opportunity to take advantage of a situation. Instead, they didn't think twice about doing the right thing.
And they restored a woman's faith in humanity in the process.
Earlier this week, 27-year-old Ken Roller stopped by his local corner coffee cart and ordered his usual drink. While he waited, he glanced over at a newspaper box next to the cart and spotted a $100 bill sitting on top of it. Without even a second thought, he handed it over to cart operator, Emad Youssef, and told him that the bill was obviously lost.
"I trust him. I see him every day," Roller told the Daily News matter-of-factly about Youssef. "He remembers my coffee order."
And as for the chances of someone coming back to claim the cash, Roller said, "A hundred dollars is a lot of money. I figured whoever lost it was definitely going to come back for it."
The 26-year-old Youssef held onto the bill until he saw another regular customer, 40-year-old Rochelle Myers, the next day. She talked about how she had lost $100 the day before... money she was planning to use to buy a new cell phone. She was sure that someone had gone into her wallet at some point during the day and had stolen it.
So you can imagine her surprise when Youssef handed over the bill.
She repaid Youssef and Roller by giving them each a bouquet of flowers, and a huge hug.
"We always think the worst, and I thought the worst immediately, but now my faith is really restored in people," she said.
An interesting footnote: The journalist who reported this story also referred to a study out of Columbia University that took place in 2007. As part of an experiment to see how honest New Yorkers are, researchers dropped wallets in various places across the city of New York. 82% of them were returned to their owners. :)
And they restored a woman's faith in humanity in the process.
Earlier this week, 27-year-old Ken Roller stopped by his local corner coffee cart and ordered his usual drink. While he waited, he glanced over at a newspaper box next to the cart and spotted a $100 bill sitting on top of it. Without even a second thought, he handed it over to cart operator, Emad Youssef, and told him that the bill was obviously lost.
"I trust him. I see him every day," Roller told the Daily News matter-of-factly about Youssef. "He remembers my coffee order."
And as for the chances of someone coming back to claim the cash, Roller said, "A hundred dollars is a lot of money. I figured whoever lost it was definitely going to come back for it."
The 26-year-old Youssef held onto the bill until he saw another regular customer, 40-year-old Rochelle Myers, the next day. She talked about how she had lost $100 the day before... money she was planning to use to buy a new cell phone. She was sure that someone had gone into her wallet at some point during the day and had stolen it.
So you can imagine her surprise when Youssef handed over the bill.
She repaid Youssef and Roller by giving them each a bouquet of flowers, and a huge hug.
"We always think the worst, and I thought the worst immediately, but now my faith is really restored in people," she said.
An interesting footnote: The journalist who reported this story also referred to a study out of Columbia University that took place in 2007. As part of an experiment to see how honest New Yorkers are, researchers dropped wallets in various places across the city of New York. 82% of them were returned to their owners. :)
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