Have you ever, while waiting on a line for whatever, or while traveling on a train, bus, airplane, or just busily going about your business, been touched by a person and though you did not even say so much as a hello, you still remember that person even after years have passed? I wonder how many times that happens to someone, if at all?

This week I have been thinking of such two such people in my life. I don’t know why. In the past years since the following situations happened, I have remembered these people quite a bit.

The First: ( about twenty years ago)

I worked on 38th and Madison and I lived on the west side so I would take the subway to Times Square and then take the shuttle to Grand Central. I would then exit the station at a place on the platform that would leave me just around the corner of 42nd Street and Madison Avenue.

One Thursday, as I was getting out of the staircase, a man wearing a three-piece grey business suit and carrying a briefcase walked down the first flight of steps and sat down. My only thought was that I would never sit on the dirty steps in a suit as nice as his. I went to work.

Usually I would go home the scenic way; I would walk from 38th Street south to 34th. I would walk on 34th Street to Broadway and then I would walk to 96th Street and take the train home from there. On this day, I do not remember why, I decided to take the subway home so I went to the entrance I used. The man was still there! I was taken aback but continued on my way, feeling sad because I figured he was probably fired from his job.

The next day he was still there! This time his jacket and vest were missing and he had a couple of empty beer bottles by him.

The following Monday he was still there! This time his briefcase was gone and there was cardboard spread on the landing as a makeshift bed! His face had not been shaved. I did not even know if I should even say hi or ask how he was.

That subway entrance was this man’s home for weeks. People, including myself, were dropping dollar bills into an empty coffee cup which he ignored... but no one ever took it away from him.

To this day I think of him and wonder if I had just asked if he was okay that first day I saw him, or the second, if he would have stayed there. I was twenty three and not til much later did I wonder what I could have done to help him.

Do you believe in angels?

Have you ever wondered about a time you could have helped someone and didn’t and then thought about how you should have done something? Did you think it could have been an angel disguised as a stranger giving you an opportunity to do a good deed?

The Second: (about four years ago)

I rarely shop at Pathmark in Holbrook, having three other supermarkets within one mile distance from my home, but on this occasion I was looking for something and Pathmark had what I wanted.

As I was walking to the store after having parked my car, a lady with a young child walked up to me and showed me an index card. I read that she was from Slovenia and could not speak English. The card also mentioned that she did not have money to buy milk and eggs to feed her family. Using nonsense sign language I tried to convey to her that I had no money because I paid with an ATM card.

I walked into Pathmark feeling miserable and berating myself for not having petty cash on me. While I was waiting on line to pay, I had a great idea. I would bring the lady into the supermarket and let her choose her groceries and I would pay with the ATM card! I was excited and yet felt upset that I did not think about it sooner.

I was not in the supermarket longer than ten minutes but when I walked outside, she was gone. I got into my car and drove around the parking lot looking for her. Nothing!

I have kept awake at nights thinking about these two people. I have hoped that they are well and that someone with a better heart than mine helped them.

I now make it a habit to carry change. My experiences have given me insight I did not have before. I hope that I will not get caught off guard next time.

Who knows... I may have missed my opportunities to have helped angels in disguise... but even worse... people who really needed help at a difficult time in their lives.

“We are each of us angels with only one wing. And we can only fly by embracing each other.”
~Luciano de Crescenzo