Kindness even rarer than I thought, apparently.

Yesterday I stopped by Stop and Shop for some bread and icecream. There's this little airlock-like thing you go through when you leave the store - I assume it's there to help maintain the temperature inside the store even with lots of people going in and out. You go in, turn left, walk about 15 feet, and then turn right to leave the store completely. When I was leaving, there was a woman already inside who was pushing one basket and pulling another one behind her. She was having some trouble trying to negotiate them both through the small space, and it looked like she was going to have a terrible time making the right turn through the door to get outside. I offered to push one of the carts.

She said that would be wonderful. Even more than being grateful for the assistance, she seemed very surprised at the offer itself. I only had a single plastic bag that wasn't very heavy, so I didn't think this was much trouble at all. She was even more surprised that I offered to wheel the cart all the way to her car - I guess she thought I was just going to help her through the door. She said something like "I guess there are some nice people left after all." Wow. I had no idea the world had gotten that bad. Glad I could sort of rekindle her faith in human kindness as well as help with her groceries, I guess.