Last Saturday, as off-duty Vancouver transit operator Surjit Singh Virk was on his way home on the bus, he witnessed a moment of unadulterated human kindness. The story is now spreading across the internet since Virk was able to capture and share a couple photos of the inspiring interaction.
Sitting near him was a man wearing plastic hairnets on his feet instead of shoes…
Soon a man coming from prayer at a nearby mosque boarded the bus and sat by Virk. He saw the barefoot fellow commuter, removed his socks and shoes, and gave them to him. He said,
You can take these, don’t worry about me — I live close by and can walk.
He then hopped off the bus before he could be told either Thanks or No, thank you.
(via Salim Jiwa, Toronto Sun)
So simple, and yet wonderfully generous.
As a bus driver, Virk speaks from experience when he says,
People usually don’t care or even look at other people on the bus. They didn’t even want to sit beside this guy because of how he was dressed.
The Good Samaritan wants to remain anonymous but was reached by phone for a comment. He offered a humbly straightforward explanation for his generosity…
I felt bad for the guy…. I was only about a two-minute walk from home, so I thought I could give him my shoes.
The man who now unexpectedly has footwear responded how I think most of us would…
What a nice guy… Did that really happen?
Yes, it did. And hopefully it will inspire many more simple yet meaningful acts of kindness as the story continues to be shared.