Paying it Forward

Helping someone else when you have been getting so much help yourself, is a blessing and a huge boost to the spirit. I was down at the main train station (Gare Cornavin) in Geneva this week and had the opportunity to do just that.

A family from Australia was wielding their suitcases through the crowd and looked completely jet-lagged and confused. They were stopping people to ask directions, but no one seemed to speak English. Either that or people were in too much of a hurry. I was on my way to an appointment myself, but I had a flash from the past come into my head and heart. It was a year ago that we moved here. I had been them, so confused, tired and lost most of the time.

I had learned to say a sentence, "Ou est le/la ___?" Which is, "Where is the ___?"
A quick look at my watch helped me decide that I had time to catch the next bus, so I walked over to help them. As I approached they gave me their best French and I answered in English. The mom started to cry, right there on the spot. :(

We went to a map, so I could point out where they were going. I was able to walk them over to the tram that they should take to get them to their hotel. We discussed where they were to exit, what landmarks they would be looking for and what they would be hearing and watching for on the tram monitor, and speaker. On the way, I taught them to ask a couple of directional questions. The mom wrote them down and then repeated them several times. I gave them my cell phone number and then they were off on their tram. One year ago I was them and today I started paying it forward. Doing service, no matter how small is a gift!