I imagined she was a Muslim. She wore an al-amira—a two-piece veil consisting of a close fitting cap and a tube-like scarf—and a flowing brown dress. With two young children in tow, a man accompanied her to the check-in stand at the airport gate. The airline attendant expected a boarding pass from the man; it seemed he expected to walk the family down the jet way to the plane. Definitively, he was told that would not be allowed. He smiled gently and, speaking in what sounded like Farsi, he handed a heavy backpack to the mother. She couldn’t carry it by hand while pushing the stroller and corralling her toddler, so he began guiding her arms through the straps.
The mother spoke little English. As I was next in line, she turned to me to simply say “sorry” for the delay. I smiled, assisting her escort in balancing the bulky pack on her back. The airline employee waited nearby. Since it was her responsibility to get dozens of people on the plane in a timely manner, she became a bit annoyed.
When we arrived at the other end of the jet way, a man in a neon yellow safety vest stood waiting to cart last-minute items to the cargo section. He saw the stroller and gently shook his head no, as she continued walking past him, wheeling the baby towards the door of the plane. He carefully stepped to the front of the line and began speaking to her—much to my surprise, in Farsi. It took a moment or two to communicate. With the heavy backpack and her other child, the mother couldn’t lift the baby out of the stroller. I watched as this worker, in one graceful, respectful step—and clearly with her permission—leaned over to speak softly and sweetly to the boy while offering two hands to pick him up. Two flight attendants watched from just over the threshold as he lifted the boy easily and placed him in his mother’s arms. He then swept the stroller aside, and stepped seamlessly through the waiting line to the side door.
The employee at the check-in stand expressed an understandable degree of impatience based on her immediate goal, the task for which she’d been hired. The presence of the young man at the other end of the jet way, however, gave way to a gift moment. He spoke the traveler’s language. He smoothed what could have been a frightening or tense experience for the mother, moving with grace through the crowd to tend these passengers in a way they could easily accept. He, too, cared about the job he was hired to do. Yet his manner allowed for a wave of compassion and care to reach the traveling family—all the while demonstrating to those of us watching how to move in harmony with the least disturbance and the most kindness.