Startled by Kindness

“Are you OK?”

Those three words startled me out of a mind-daze I found myself in recently in the early morning, standing by the door inside the train station. It was one of those moments of staring with a fixed gaze at something but nothing at the same time. My eyes were slightly unfocused as my mind wandered. I was clearly more interested in what was going on in my head at the moment than what was playing out before me visually; hence, I “zoned out,” as I may do upon occasion. I was completely awake and cognizant of my surroundings – but it must not have seemed that way to a young guy who walked into the station, saw me, and quickly and concernedly asked me that opening question.

“Are you OK?”

I quickly snapped out of my daze and assured him that I was fine, and he went on his way. But I was left with a couple of interesting feelings. For one, I was slightly but not terribly embarrassed for being noticed and called out for what must be an unusual state of appearance. More than feeling embarrassed, though, I felt a little more self-aware of this mind-daze state. I never really thought about how trance-like I might appear when in one of those dazes. Note to self: look down and not straight ahead next time you decide to zone out.

But mostly, I was left with a good feeling about this chance encounter and what was truly a random act of kindness. I’m typically in my own world on my morning commute, as so many fellow commuters are – keeping to ourselves, minding our own business, not interacting. This day, however, a fellow human being stopped on his journey to make sure that I was OK. Nothing monumental – and it shouldn’t be cause for proclaiming the hope for or rebirth of humanity. But on this day, in that moment, it left me with a good feeling, knowing that someone – even a stranger – cared enough to look after my welfare.

And that makes me feel just a little bit more than “OK.”