The kindness of strangers – how a thank you note changed a man’s life (and mine too)
Have stamp, will travel – but Bec Levingston takes the power of the written word to heartwarming levels.
Seven years ago I wrote a Thank You note to a stranger in New York.
I just discovered he got it.
To explain, I need to take you back to 2017 when I decided that Thank You notes seemed to be disappearing. So I started a campaign to bring back written gratitude on the radio.
I asked people to call in to my show and say thank you to someone if they’d done something helpful. It could be your neighbour bringing in the bin or a stranger saving your life. No good deed was too big or small. All appreciation was welcome.
Happily I got calls from all over Queensland for random and intentional acts of kindness.
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To be honest I forget the details of what most people said thanks for, I just know it felt good. Up until recently it was just a blurry little radio memory that I filed unde”happy”.
Then I got a message out of the blue on Instagram.
It said “Hi, did you used to do a program in 2017 where listeners called up with thank you messages for people and you sent them a letter in the mail to give to the person they thanked?”
I said “Yes I did. Why do you ask?”
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Turns out Cameron, the guy who contacted me had called into my show to thank a worker called Oscar at La Guardia Airport. He’d helped him out after a really difficult long haul flight. Cameron was extremely unwell and Oscar gave him some food and place to lie down.
Cameron messaged me to say that after years of casual internet sleuthing, he found Oscar. I asked Cameron why he was so determined to get in touch with this New York airport worker.
Turns out it was a pivotal moment because it was his first overseas trip and he was on his way to visit an American girl who ultimately moved to Australia to be with him after many years of long distance romance. Guys, it’s a Rom-Com!
Without Oscar’s kindness, Cameron said things could have turned out very differently.
He felt that he should let me know that he virtually delivered the thank you note. He still has the original that I sent.
I love that he took the time to fill me in on a chain of events I didn’t even know was playing out. My dorky little idea, made people smile, especially me.
So, with that gratitude in mind, I want to write a couple of public thank you notes.
- Thanks to teachers who go on school camps.
- Thanks to my friend Amy who has a contagiously naughty laugh. May your snorts get louder even on days when the world feels crazy.
- Thanks to mandarin farmers. They’re so good right now. Easy to peel. Few pips. Perfect.
- Thanks to my first netball coach Jane, who danced with us to “We are the Champions” by Queen after a grand final. I still remember being in that huddle and feeling like we’d won gold.
- Thanks in advance to Paris for giving us a French holiday via the Olympic montages that’ll dominate our screens shortly.
- Thanks to the dogs next door for not barking as much lately.
- Thanks to Larissa, the mum of four who gave me really good advice about school when my sons first started.
- Thanks to spaghetti bolognese for being the meal you can cook every week without complaint.
- Thanks Dad for lending me weirdly specific tools the one time I need them like that leather hole punch you used to do up the rocking horse and I needed for a belt.
- Thanks to Bazza my work buddy for always reminding me of the simple beautiful moments in life.
- Thanks to instant coffee.
- And if you haven’t written a Thank You note for a while, take this as your hint to pick up a pen, say cheers and pop that message in an envelope. Even if it’s been 7 years.
