For their honeymoon, Steve Brykman and his wife decided to travel cross-country in their camper. When they reached Wyoming, they decided to take the scenic route, traveling up the Big Horn mountains to catch the view. Seeing as it was September, they thought nothing of it. But as they traveled up the mountain, the weather began to take a turn for the worse. A freak snow storm, they called it. Complete white-out. Then they lost control of the camper, and began traveling down the narrow mountain roads backwards. They flipped over. Fortunately, the roads weren’t empty and the actions of several strangers turned what would have been a nightmare honeymoon into a remarkable story of kindness.

Transcript:

My wife and I were on our honeymoon and we had this souped up ‘84 Westy camper and we decided that we were going to travel across the country for our honeymoon in the camper. And we got to Wyoming, and this was the first week in September and so we decided to take the scenic route which went up into the Big Horn mountains. So we started heading up those mountains, and then it started to rain a little, and then it starts to get cold, and rain starts to freeze on the windshield, hindering our vision. And then it begins to snow. I remember cattle heading down the mountain, which probably should’ve been our first indication we should’ve been out of there. And within like 5 minutes we were in a complete white-out, and it became clear this was going to be just a complete disaster. And then a gust of wind just hit the side of the camper, which is basically just a giant rectangle, and actually spun the camper entirely around so that we were traveling down this mountain backwards. I’m not a very religious person but I remember saying like ‘Okay, God! It’s up to you! It’s your call!” It seemed like forever, but it was probably a few seconds later that we hit the side of the road and rolled the camper upside down on the side of the road that happened to have a side to it. Because on the other side of the road it was just a sheer cliff face. And wound up stopping upside down, and we had to get out of it upside down. My wife, who’s a much quicker thinker than I am was able to hop into the road. I remember thinking like “oh wow that’s amazing that she was able to get all the wedding gifts out of the car and arrange them on the road like that.” Of course, she didn’t. They had just flown out of the vehicle. Fortunately, a car came within 5 or 10 minutes and the guy stopped, and he was training to be a fireman so we knew we were in good hands. And he helped us pack up his car with whatever we needed, and took us down the mountain in the Lovell, Wyoming. And we did go to the hospital and get checked out. We were okay. And the nurse drove us back to the hotel, so I asked her how do we get out of here? The nearest car rental place is out in Cody, Wyoming which is 50-60 miles from where we were. So the nurse was like ‘well I’m going that way anyway so I’ll give you a ride.” So I don’t think she was ‘going that way anyway,’ I think she was just doing it to be nice and to help us get on with our honeymoon.

This experience taught me that there’s always going to be somebody to help you no matter where you are. Because, I mean, we were in the middle of nowhere on a mountain in the middle of a freak snowstorm and here’s a fireman in training coming to our rescue. But there it is.

Photo courtesy of Steve Brykman

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Living in poverty can generate stories of kindness, a certain quality of which—I imagine—cannot be experienced by even the slightly well-to-do. As a child, I was struck by my mother’s accounts of her family’s meager Christmases, which colored my sense of the meaning of the holiday. But for a middle-class, second-generation American child, those images—though lasting—could be, at best, a mere copy of the original.

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Back in July, we launched this digital experiment called “Kind World.” In it, we explore people’s experiences with random acts of kindness. Over the last several months, we’ve collected dozens of stories and featured many of them right here on our Tumblr.

So, to capture the warmth of the season, we compiled our favorite Kind World stories — each one demonstrating the overwhelming goodness that exists in the world. From a man buying a retail manager’s entire staff a cup of coffee during the hectic holiday sales season to a woman with mitochondrial disease helping a man stuck in his New York City apartment during Superstorm Sandy, these stories detail the human experiences that may not necessarily make the news, but are just as important to share.

Press the play button below to listen to the full compilation.

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We had a horrible house fire last October. Devastated, not knowing yet what, if anything, could be replaced or repaired, I posted the incident on my Facebook Page. Within an hour, offers of help, food, a place to stay, a car to drive, came in from many people (including our banker and insurance agent). All of them followed through with their offers. There are a lot of good people out there; sometimes it takes a near tragedy to recognize it.

Our house was repaired and new furniture delivered the day before Christmas, another miracle wrought by our out-of-work contractor friends, who also received a wonderful Christmas gift in the form of payment because of our insurance company and bank.

Without doubt, there are angels among us.

Story by: Kathryn Burke
Photo by: f2n_downtown

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Crystal Evans has never met Nick Dupree. Nick lives in the Tribeca area of Manhattan and Crystal lives in Boston. The only time they speak is to share advice and stories on an online forum dedicated to people with mitochondrial disease - a disease they both share.

Nick, however, has a much more severe case than Crystal, and though they are both wheelchair bound, Nick’s disease requires him to be on a feeding tube and ventilator. So when Superstorm Sandy approached, and New York City slowly began to lose power, Crystal immediately thought of Nick. So, as one does, she opened up her Facebook to see if Nick was okay. Turns out, she was right to be worried. Nick had posted that his power had gone out, and the nurses who usually help him couldn’t get into the city because all public transit had been suspended. 

Nick only had so many hours before all of his equipment would shut off. And that’s when Crystal sprung to action, organizing a massive effort to save Nick Dupree.

Transcript coming soon.

Photo credit: Jonathan Percy

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