The kindness of strangers: Endlessly generous airport rescue restores 'faith in humankind'

CBC Radio One's The Early Edition is asking listeners to share their stories of kindness from strangers for a series that runs on Thursday mornings.

This week's instalment begins after Judy Reid flew home extremely ill from a vacation, and a stranger made her family's horrible return unforgettable.

Dear Stranger,

My husband, two sons and I were returning home from a family holiday in Barbados when we met you.

This was 40 years ago, over the Christmas holidays of 1978, but the encounter has stayed with our family ever since.

Right before coming back, I had gotten very ill and had a high fever during our multi-layover flight home.

We left 90 F weather in Barbados and arrived after a very, very long day in –40 C in Fort St. John, B.C.

I remember sitting  in the airport with our sons while my husband went to get the car from the parking lot. It was absolutely frozen solid and wouldn't start.

That's when you came to our rescue.

You helped my husband try to start the car and, when that didn't work, you bundled us into your car.

We went back to your place, where you and your wife warmed us up with coffee and cookies.

We urgently had to get back to our home in Chetwynd, about an hour-and-a-half drive from Fort St. John, and you didn't hesitate to lend us your car for the trip.  

The kindness didn't end there, though.

My husband called you the next day to sort out returning your car and to figure out how to charge the battery of our car, still abandoned at the airport.  

That's when we found out you'd returned to the airport with your brother after we left, got our car and brought it back to your garage to charge.

In a final act of generosity, we realized you'd sent us a few packages of frozen meat you'd hunted as a gift when we got our car back.

Even now, decades later, the story of your kindness brings tears to my eyes.

What you did was absolutely stunning. You didn't know us and yet you gave so much, expecting nothing in return.

That act of kindness has stuck with us all these years and influenced how we interact with others. We always attempt to pass it forward because we've never forgotten that encounter.

Whenever we'd be on the road and see someone in need, for example, we'd stop to help.

Our sons used to say "But Daddy, you told us not to pick up strangers" and we'd explain why — that when we were helpless, you stopped to help us.  

What you did gives us faith in humankind, I feel pretty good about the world despite there being so much sadness and nasty stuff out there. Your kindness has lived with us forever and we've told the story many times since.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. 

Yours,

Judy Reid

If you have a story about the kindness of strangers, email The Early Edition at [email protected].