Ticket Exchange

     Strangers keep to themselves in subways. Sometimes that disconnect breaks down. Here are two examples:
     A woman (in the photo) lost her purse on a train in Boston. Another rider recovered the lost article. He contacted her. Nothing had been stolen.
    Stories like hers are commonplace. But not this next one. 
    Last December in Boston, a young man fed dollars into a subway ticket machine. A stranger beside him struggled with his payment. Instructions on the machine were confusing.
    The young man handed his ticket to the stranger.
    This gesture stuck a chord. The stranger reached into his jacket, sifted through a pocket, and removed his hand. A pair of tickets lay on his palm. These tickets didn’t resemble subway tickets. Not even close.
    They were tickets to the AFC championship game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. The stranger handed over the football tickets. Turns out, the stranger was a player on the Patriots.
    Random acts of kindness are contagious.