Time to let a little trust into my life

I NEVER depend on the kindness of strangers. Who does these days? I was brought up to associate stranger with danger, not kindness.

After all, it was a stranger who didn’t pick up after their dog and forced me to spend a good half-hour retching while I cleaned my shoe.

It was a stranger who cut me off at the traffic lights and then gave me the finger as he sped off.

It was a stranger who stole my car when I was in the service station paying for petrol. You get the idea. But last week I was given pause to think I may have been a bit quick to write off my fellow man.

Because in the space of 30 minutes two strangers came to my aid and went a long way to restoring my faith in humankind.

It happened as I was preparing to leave for work.

I was bringing the bin in before I left and put my wallet on the roof of my car.

Dumb move, I know. I even remember having a chuckle to myself that I’d probably drive off with it still up there. Less than a minute later that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t realise until I went to pay for my drive-through coffee 20 minutes later. “No worries, just fix us up next time,” the coffee guy said, as he handed me my latte. I was taken aback by his kindness, but my thoughts quickly shifted to my wallet and the cash, credit card, etc. I thought the worst; that some thieving stranger was already busy splurging my hardearned. Probably stolen my identity while they were at it. I drove home in a panic hoping I’d find it on the driveway. I didn’t.

As I was about to begin the painful process of cancelling my cards a car rolled up.

“You looking for your wallet?” this stranger asked.

He’d found it a few kilometres away on the road, tracked down where I lived and gone out of his way to return it.

He didn’t even take the money — still in the wallet — I offered him as a reward.

Like the drive-through coffee guy he did it out of the kindness of his heart.

Maybe I just got lucky. Maybe next time I drive off with my wallet on the roof of the car — and no doubt it will happen again — I’ll never see it again. Or maybe not. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.