Even if you’ve only been in New York City a short time, it’s likely you’ve been surprised by one act of kindness by a stranger. For example, when Intel Chris was in crutches for a period of a few weeks, he was always surprised at the way people on the subway would help him out — from giving up their seats to actually holding open car doors as they attempted to slam shut, so that he would have time to hobble onboard. Intel Dan one time witnessed one woman who didn’t know her way around the subway take another woman, a stranger who was even more confused, over to the map to help her figure out where she was going. And Intel Jessica had an experience where she left a bag that contained some freshly purchased expensive moisturizer from Bergdorf Goodman on the subway, and was startled days later to find the moisturizer in her mailbox — a Good Samaritan had found the bag, returned it to Bergdorf, and the store tracked her down and sent her the purchase.
Every year, New York enumerates dozens of “Reasons to Love New York” for our annual holiday issue. Last year, we asked you for your own reasons to love this great city, and we included them scattered throughout the magazine. This year, we are being more specific: We want you to tell us about the times you’ve experienced random, surprising acts of kindness or generosity from strangers. These can be moments big or small — anything that jolted you enough to remind you how much you love this crazy place. Send them to us at reasons@nymag.com or leave them in the comments, and we’ll include our favorites in the issue. Hopefully, at least some of yours — unlike ours — will occur above ground.
Earlier: Reasons to Love New York: 2008 [NYM]
