Yesterday I was moseying along on my way home from the gym, when lo and behold, I came across a wallet lying on the path in front of me.

My first thought was – “I’m glad I found this – rather than some unscrupulous person”. I then had a peek to see if there was an address inside… which there wasn’t. I have to say, I felt kinda creepy about it. A wallet is a very personal possession. The things you carry denote who you are, what organisations you are affiliated to… it feels like a massive violation of privacy to look in someone else’s wallet uninvited.

After I had established that there was no address or phone number, I walked the rest of the way home, then drove up to the nearest police station to hand it in.

It got me to thinking about random moments in life where you have somehow crossed paths with a helpful stranger (or been one!).

I remember one time when I was driving my parent’s old 4WD down to the Gold Coast – and the tyre blew out as I was doing 110km/hour down a 4-lane highway.

I managed to pull over – and though I know how to change a tyre, I was having trouble getting the car jacked up high enough.

A young man pulled over – and set about helping me to jack up the car, and change the big, heavy tyre. When we were done, I thanked him profusely, and asked if I could have his e-mail to thank him properly (of course, I happened to be single at the time.. and he was kinda cute!). He just waved that off good-naturedly and said it wasn’t necessary, then wished me a lovely day. I don’t even remember his name!

Has something like this ever happened to you?

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