Seen Humanity through My Fixed Zipper

My alarm rang. I was super excited to fly to London in the evening to meet my friends I hadn't met for the past four years.

While putting my portable power bank into a small pocket in my backpack, I found out that the pull tab on the zipper of my travel backpack always came off every time I tried to pull it.

The pocket of this backpack was not frequently used. So, I didn't manage to find out until the day of the flight. I felt anxious and frustrated because I knew I needed that pocket to have a working zipper.

Without a second thought, I drove to Lowe's (a chain store selling DIY tools) to find the best tools to clasp the gap so my pull tab wouldn't come off.

I bought pliers set, got into my car, and tried to fix it myself. No success. Feeling down, I went to ask a Lowe's employee to help me, but he was unwilling to try because he was afraid to break my zipper.

Since the first employee couldn't help me, I asked another employee in the next aisle. He was helping another customer to find the tools he wanted.

So I walked toward him and told him about my problem when they were done. The customer got very curious, and we all tried to figure out how to clasp the zipper. I told them using pliers did not solve my problem; they recommended I use a vise grip tool.

I went off and tried my best to find where the vise grips were. Being overwhelmed by different vise grips, I was unsure what to do.

The customer who got helped previously walked to me. He knew that I was overwhelmed by my problem. He picked up one of the vise grips and told me the vise grip might do the trick.

I thought he wanted me to do it myself. But fortunately, he said he was willing to try it. I never saw and used a vise grip in my life. I felt like the Lord was helping me through him.

I lifted my backpack using my knees to provide support. The customer put my zipper in the mouth of the vise grip. "KRRKK" when I looked at my zipper, it was clasped!!

I couldn't believe he made it look so easy. I thanked him immensely. Bought that vise grip.

While driving back home, I felt so grateful that it was fixed. It looked like a small matter, but I thanked the Lord for the good people in this society.

When reading the news or social media posts, we always see negativity; for example, people are selfish, getting the benefits while harming others, from politicians to people with high power to even ordinary people like us.

I was relieved to realize that there are still many good people around. A small act of kindness is good enough to make the community a little better.

I want to become the person that helped me and spread positive energy to make the world a better place.

How about you?