Most of us are surrounded by opportunities to be charitable, but the hustle and bustle and busyness of life, especially during the holidays, keeps us from being aware of them.
Recently, an American Airlines passenger chose to be mindful of those around him and generously gave up his cozy first-class spot so that two travelers in economy seating — a mother and her sick baby — could be more comfortable.
“[Thank] you,” the young mother, Kelsey Zwick, wrote in a touching Facebook post. “Not just for the seat itself but for noticing. For seeing us and realizing that maybe things are not always easy. For deciding you wanted to show a random act of kindness to [us]. It reminded me how much good there is in this world.”
As Zwick reveals, she was traveling to Pennsylvania with her infant daughter, Lucy, for an appointment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Although she does not give specifics of Lucy’s condition, she explains that in addition to pushing the stroller and carrying a diaper bag, she was also “lugging an oxygen machine” for Lucy, a grinning little girl who’s pictured with a tube in her nose.
Although the busy mama was in good spirits despite the stress of flying with a baby, the gentleman in seat 2D decided to give up a bit of his own comfort for her and Lucy’s sake. “I cried my way up the aisle while my daughter Lucy laughed!” Zwick wrote. “She felt it in her bones too … real, pure, goodness.”
And today we celebrate...