When We Needed Help, People Were Eager to Help

Yesterday I helped my daughter move from one New York City apartment to another. It was just the two of us, unloading all her possessions from two cars and carrying them upstairs.

Our first challenge was to find a parking spot near her new apartment. Magically, I spotted two parking spaces right by the building's entrance, but just as we were all set to pull in, the taxi in front of me took one of them. He didn't appear to be waiting for a fare, so my daughter explained our situation and he offered to move. As he was waiting for traffic to ease so he could pull out, I ran over to give him $5 as my way of saying thank you. He refused to take it.

So we ended up right in front of her building and started unloading.

One of her rugs was large, heavy, and - for reasons I don't fully understand - slippery. As we struggled to lift it onto the upper level of a cart, a man and his son rushed over to help us.

A few minutes later, we were lifting a dresser out of the car, and a man on a bike stopped and asked if we needed help. (We didn't.)

We saved the most awkward item for last: her mattress and bed. But as we were getting ready for the challenge, the building's maintenance guy showed up with a special dolly built for carrying mattresses. He then helped us take it upstairs.

It really felt like "we are in this together".

The media - and social media - are often filled with negativity. In conversations with friends, I often hear comments like "we're headed towards a bad place" and "things are spiraling downwards".

But our experience on the streets of New York suggests the opposite. People are friendly, courteous, and generous. They want to help.

There will always be good and bad in the world. Your choice is pretty simple: you can focus on either one.

In my experience, the more I focus on good, the more I notice the positive actions of others. I'm pretty sure that on the ride across New York a number of drivers were somewhat less than courteous, but dwelling on negative behaviors doesn't interest me.

Instead, I just spent half an hour sharing with you the generosity that people shared with us.

Now you can decide: do you want to share something positive with others? I hope so.

Bruce Kasanoff helps a wide range of entrepreneurs and executives shape their best ideas for social media. He is the author of How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk.