Stories of our great human spirit.
Cynthia Page was a young copywriter working in Manhattan and living in New Jersey. One night, after missing the train home, she was calling her husband from a train station phone booth. When she hung up and turned around, she saw that the phone booth was surrounded by a group of tall, threatening-looking men.
"I don't know what these people would have done," Page recalled. "But I was legitimately frightened."
Just as she was wondering what she would do, she heard an angry, booming male voice come through the train station – directed at her. The man was shouting about how they were going to miss their train.
"It's like the red sea parted," Page said. "This sea of these great big men sort of parted and marching through came this well-dressed, well-suited man."
The man opened the phone booth door, grabbed her by the arm, pulled her out, and moved her through the station. As they walked, he continued to talk loudly and complain about almost missing their train, as if he knew her. He waited with her for another train, and once he saw that she was safe, he disappeared.
From NPR's unsung hero podcast: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/21/1158423229/she-found-herself-cornered-in-a-train-station-then-a-stranger-came-to-her-aid
This is about a dog who did something amazing. Okay, it's not about a hero, although the shelter worker could be considered a hero. Bailey, the dog, had been adopted a week before, but then she slipped away from her new owner and disappeared. Everyone was looking for her frantically for three days, that is, until in the middle of the night when employees at of the El Paso Animal Rescue League were notified via Ring doorbell that someone was at the shelter's front door. After grabbing her phone to check the camera the female worker, who was home in bed, was shocked to discover a familiar face at the door—their former shelter dog Bailey. This the image the shelter worker saw when her Ring video went off. https://www.dailypaws.com/pet-news-entertainment/adoption-stories/escaped-dog-rings-doorbell-at-former-shelter-after-3-days-missing
Aw, that is precious. They must have really taken great care of her and made her feel at home.
And the man sounds like an angel in disguise.
I loved both of these stories.
I wasn't sure where to post this, but thought this might be an appropriate place.
For those of you who can access the Washington Post, this is a wonderful essay by David Von Drehle about the remarkable life and philosophy of Charlie White, a man who lived to be 109. It’s a lengthy article but well worth the read, or you can listen to the audio version which is also linked in the essay. Here is an excerpt from the article:
Among Charlie’s things after he was gone, his family found a single sheet of notepaper, on which Charlie had boiled 109 years into an operating code of life. He filled the sheet front and back in flowing ballpoint pen, writing in definitive commands. Among them:
Think freely. Practice patience. Smile often. Forgive and seek forgiveness.
Feel deeply. Tell loved ones how you feel.
Be soft sometimes. Cry when you need to. Observe miracles.
“My Neighbor lived to be 109. This is what I learned from him” by David Von Drehle, The Washington Post, May 22, 2023. This essay was adapted from The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year Old Man, by David Von Drehle. It was published May 23, 2023 by Simon & Schuster, © 2023.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/22/david-von-drehle-book-excerpt-dr-charlie-white/
@ghandigirl, I'd forgotten about the Delany sisters. Thanks for the reminder.
I liked the Von Drehle article so much that I've ordered his book about it. My Polish great grandfather lived to be 103, still mobile and cognitively sharp until the end.
Lately I've been wondering about angels. When someone needs healing or help, I've gotten into the habit of sending angels to them in my mind. I start the ball rolling by sending them, but then I will get a visual of these beings appearing and taking the situation in hand. I will often see exactly what these angels are doing. Later I will hear that some humans stepped in and did what I'd seen my angels doing.
I was thinking about that phenomenon when I spotted this story that happened last month in Barbados when two tourists found themselves caught in a riptide off shore of a nearly empty beach.
According to the article, two girls, age 13 and 14, who, by the way, could pass for Botticelli angels, deftly took matters in hand and saved the couple. They were boogie boarding at the time, so they swam way out into the rip tide and brought the couple back. The husband was very far out at the time and most likely would have drowned.
After the ordeal, the wife said, "What really sticks in my mind is the calmness of those children."
“They really were like a couple of angels on that beach,” the woman said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/01/17/teens-save-tourists-riptide-barbados/
@jeanne-mayell Re your question on angels:
I do not know whether there are such beings as angels as many religions describe…
… but I believe every human is a potential ambassador of the divine… we are capable of being the voice, hands and feet (action) of the sacred on earth.
I perceive Reiki as flowing into and through me to the living being or situation I’m trying to help… i.e., I believe my consciousness directs the intention.
Edgar Cayce explained humans as the fingers on a hand… each human seemingly separate, but actually connected to and part of “The Source” (i.e., God, or Universal Consciousness or The Ineffible, or The Light)
So are humans potential “angels?” I’ve sensed traditional angels… and I’ve known people full of compassion and “light” who have a beneficial impact on the people around them.
You asked a crucial, intriguing question, Jeanne. At its heart, it’s like asking: what’s reality? Or what’s consciousness?
What exactly are we perceiving when we have a vision? I believe we perceive symbols and metaphores that speak to our culture, or to our individual mindset. Angels? To me they represent compassionate action.
@jeanne-mayell Re your question on angels:
I do not know whether there are such beings as angels as many religions describe…
… but I believe every human is a potential ambassador of the divine… we are capable of being the voice, hands and feet (action) of the sacred on earth.
@freya, I wanted to repost your entire post, so good. But you hit the nugget of what I have realized when I "send angels" to people in need. Human ambassadors rush in. It's beautiful to behold.