An Act of Kindness

2015年1月13日 (火)

I have lived in Sapporo for over five years now, and I believe that most people here are very kind and honest.

During my first year here, I once lost my favorite mechanical pencil.  I was very sorry that I had lost it, and I was thinking about what I should do.  Then, the next day, I was walking to school, and I found my pencil.  Someone had picked it up and put it in an easy-to-see place.  This made a big impression on me.  It made me happy to live here.

Since then I have seen people in Sapporo do many kind things for me and for eachother, so I have a very good image of this city.
But still I was surprised by something that I saw last week.

I was waiting for the subway to go home after work at about 10:00 in Odori station.  There were some people ahead of me in line, and when the train arrived I wasn’t the first person to get on.  I didn’t really look at the people getting off of the train, but maybe the young woman who got on first saw them.  When I got on the subway, I saw a very nice pink umbrella sitting near the door.  I didn’t know who it belonged to, but I felt a little sorry for the owner.

Then, the young woman who got on first noticed the umbrella.  She went and picked it up, and quickly got off the train.  She ran up the stiars, looking for the umbrella’s owner.  I think she saw the owner get off of the train, and so she went to return it.

I was touched by this experience.  At 10:00, everyone is tired and wants to go home.  This young woman got on the train first because she had been waiting there longer than anyone else.  I believe she was tired and wanted to go home, too.  But, she still tried to return the umbrella to its owner.  Her kind action made me happy to live in Sapporo once again.  It made me want to be kind to the people around me, even if I have never met them before.

I don’t know her name, or if she found the umbrella’s owner, but I think she is a good example of the best kind of Sapporo citizen.