The Kindness in Frankfurt

During the summer of 2022, I found myself in Frankfurt, colloquially known as the sausage city of Germany (although this title is fiercely debated). The city's skyline, adorned with numerous skyscrapers, invoked memories of downtown New York City or, perhaps more fittingly, Chicago. Eager to explore, my travel companion and I decided to visit the renowned Frankfurt Airport, as it is said to be a hotspot for tourists! The gods of curiosity would be mad if we did not visit.

While I can't definitively affirm if the airport lived up to its hype—given my extensive travel experiences—I was captivated by something else. Now several kilometers from the airport, I settled for brunch at the Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof Station in Hesse. Opting for a burger, chips, and an indulgent, albeit sugary drink, I began delving into Zhang's remarkable 2020 debut novel, "How Much of These Hills Is Gold." This novel was a gift from Ibrahim Nureni on my birthday, and it was the first time I noticed the sweet note he had written me as I left Nigeria to study for my master's degree in Europe.

I was still in this beautiful reverie when distracted by the most heart-warming kindness I had ever seen in Europe: the sausage man! An unkempt man with an uncombed beard and oversized clothing entered the restaurant. He was hard to miss. He was the man with a bowl in the streets soliciting alms from whoever would care to drop some spare euros. What was he doing in this upscale eatery? Simple: He was hungry, and that was enough! It is a classic show of humanity; the king gets as hungry as the less privileged on the streets.

?"...the king gets as hungry as the less privileged on the streets."

On the opposite side of the room, a family enjoying brunch extended an invitation to the sausage man, who appeared somewhat out of place in the polished restaurant. They generously shared their chips, with the children enthusiastically contributing to fill the man's bowl to the brim. They seemed to pull an extra chair for the sausage man at the table. He, however, stormed out as he preferred his seat at the borders of the streets. Old habits die hard, they say!

?“Old habits die hard” Benjamin Franklin

Is this narrative worth recounting? I only found an answer about a year later, in the summer of 2023, amusingly coinciding with another summer tale. This time, I was in Nantes, France, with my well-packed backpack that always goes with a fancy water bottle. A lady approached me, pointing to something in my bag without uttering a word. I was confused until I figured she wanted some water from my bottle. Instantly, I recalled the sausage man and the benevolent family, who had imparted a lesson on kindness through their simple yet meaningful actions. Without hesitation, I shared my water with the water woman!

Spread some love in a world of many wars and ranging angst! .... we need humans to be humans

There are many sausage men and water women around us with a singular request that we show simple kindness. Spread some love in a world of many wars and ranging angst! More than ever in human history, we need humans to be humans for peace to be restored! I have chosen to write this beautiful experience as stories do not die; they live through us!