With the way the world is running where each one looks out for his own and one can't trust his own friend to lend a helping hand in times of trouble, I was greatly surprised when a stranger selflessly helped me.
I was travelling to my home town by a bus. It was a long journey. At noon, we had to make a pit stop for lunch. These stops typically have one or two small restaurants and a couple of shops that sell snacks and drinks. Getting off the bus, I went into the only restaurant there and had my lunch. Before returning to the bus, I bought a drink and a water bottle from the shop in front of the restaurant. As the bus pulled away to continue on the journey, I took out my laptop and put on the earphones with music blasting at full volume.
About 10-20 minutes into the ride, I noticed the bus conductor on the phone while seemingly talking to the passengers. I didn’t think anything of it and continued with my music. As he moved past my seat, I faintly heard what he was asking around. I took off my earphones. He was asking if any lady has left her wallet behind in the shop we had at stopped at for lunch. I absent- mindedly shook my head in a rush to get back to the music. Just before throwing on the earphones again, I checked my sling bag just in case, only to find that my wallet was missing. While getting back in the bus, I didn't check if I had the wallet with me since I was only used to carrying a sling bag. I asked the conductor if he was referring to a pink wallet. He confirmed it was pink. I told him it's mine. Since we were already a good distance away from the spot, the conductor told me to call the shop keeper and work out a solution.
I called the shop keeper and he suggested that I send someone I know from that place to pick up the wallet and that he will keep it safe for me until then. My brother's friend retrieved it a while later. I was so relieved to find all of about 110 dollars I had was still in there! This amount may mean nothing to many, but a person could survive for an entire month on it. I was extremely surprised and even shocked that the shop keeper actually decided to return it instead of keeping it to himself. He really didn’t have to return the wallet. Even so, he went to the lengths of calling the conductors of all the 3 buses that had stopped there that noon, tracked down the rightful owner and held onto it until it could be recovered. All the steps he took; call, track, and finally return the article are extremely simple, but the honesty and selflessness that he displayed is exceedingly rare. That was a pleasant experience for me that restored the faith that was fading, in humanity. There are people out there that are honest and sincere even if few and far between.