There is nothing like being packed in a hot bus or subway car to become curious about your fellow man. I always become very curious about the life stories of these strangers – what are they doing on the bus? What is their life story? Have they always lived in this city? Or do they have a zig-zagging trail like I have? It is similar in a hospital except the humanity is felt on a deeper and possibly more personal level – I don’t know these strangers any more than the ones on a subway, but I know these people are ill or suffering or something that pinpoints something about them.

And then the small, unspoken contract between most people – you do what you would hope someone would do for you under similar circumstances. A woman dropped her glasses, I picked them up and chased her down. She said I saved her life and made her day. I replied, “I would hope someone would do the same for me if it were my glasses.” She said, “There is hope for people yet.”