How do you know a tourist when you see one? Can you really tell? If you can, will you be able to spot the difference between a domestic traveler and a foreign vacationist?
I supposed it is more difficult these days where a variety of languages and dialects have become ubiquitously spoken across a growing multicultural nation. It is rather hard to differentiate a vacationing tourist from Paris to a Parisian who has been a long-time Manhattanite. Often, you would find that in the local Parisian households, French is still the preferred spoken language vis-a-vis English.
On my train ride this morning, I found myself seated beside a mother and her son who seemed to be on their way to the museum for an educational day of exploration with a fellow mother and her daughter. I could see from my peripheral view that they were searching for a map.
I did not understand their language, but somehow I knew they were headed to one of the museum stops. As the train slowly pulled to their station, I found it odd to see them remained calm. They seemed to be oblivious it was their stop.
I figured I had to do something. I did not want them to miss their station. I could not afford in my conscience to have those kids spoil their adventure by getting lost. I quickly turned to one of the mothers and called her attention to the station sign. With a perplexed face, she grabbed her son and signaled the other mother to take her daughter to rush to the other side of the open doors.
In their haste to get out, the boy got caught in the closing door and so was the girl’s mother. If not for the collective and coordinated efforts of a bunch of good samaritans, they would have missed their stop. The commuters jumped to their aid and held back the closing doors. The sight was something to behold. It was amazing!
You could not hope for a better New York than what I had witnessed. Commuters came together to lend a helping hand to a group of tourists who were lost.
It was a defining moment for native New Yorkers. It was a living testimony to the goodness of people, without regard for color, language or anything in between.
