So I’m walking down Columbus Ave, around midnight, with my Mom, and she’s carrying a cheap Mahjong case. We had been playing earlier that evening and just finished a late dinner.

Turns out I hadn’t snapped it shut properly a few hours earlier. so when she adjusts her hold, 144 plastic mahjong tiles spill onto the sidewalk and street, bouncing under cars and tables, into the gutter, and into a vacant parking space. We’re in front of Calzones, and about 10 people appear and start picking up the tiles and giving them to my mom. She’s standing there in a flurry of Good Samaritans picking up green and white tiles, placing them in the box, and then they all disappear in no less than five minutes. One guy had a flashlight and helped us find stray tiles. I’m just overwhelmed at the quick, random, and helpful outpouring of passerbys and those folks eating outside of the restaurant. We were quickly on our way again, both of us kind of silent, thinking about how that all happend so fast.

That reminds me of another Good Samaritan act…

My sister and her two kids, age 2 and 4 at the time, came up to the city and we had a long day planned. Finally everyone gets tuckered out, and we get on a 30 bus at Kearny. Actually, we had to run for it, and the kids were pushed in front of us while sister paid and I navigated following the kids. It was a really packed bus. I find both kids sitting prettily in the front seats, while there’s standing room, seniors, and general cocaphony of 30-Stockton Chinatown buses. After we get settled and we’re standing there in front of the kids, I ask the 4 year-old how she climbed up there with her brother. She points across the way at two older Asian women who are smiling and waving. I was so touched that random strangers helped these kids onto the seats. It was really sweet. We ended up talking the entire ride about the 4-year old’s knitted poncho and other child care raising stuff.