Separated From a New Pair of Shoes

Oct 12, 2016 · 28 comments
MKM (Salt Lake City UT)
What a lovely story!
Carol Giffen (Silver Spring, MD)
Sweet, happy story - thank you! Glad you got your shoes back, but it sounds like you got more than just shoes from that adventure.
robin s. (nj)
A great feel good story. I hope you gave him a nice tip. You can't always judge by appearances.
Cher Lewis (Pietrasanta, italy)
That's my New York!!!!
SmartenUp (US)
Great!... and smart.
California Dreamer (San Francisco, CA)
This brings to mind that terrifying New York City PSA that ran in the 70s (I think): a man in a suit runs to catch the subway and thrusts his briefcase into the closing subway doors...but the briefcase is attached to his wrist with a small chain. Is this a false memory or does anyone else remember it on television?
Aditya (New York)
Interesting story!

However, it is the train conductor's duty to not let the train pull away in such a dangerous situation. This could have been very dangerous, and I'm glad you weren't hurt.
Dean MacGregor (New York City)
What kind of shoes were they?
TSlats (WDC)
Have to hand it to her; good read.
Luccia (Brooklyn)
Lovely. You never expect it but when people act with grace and generosity it means all the more.
David Hays Buckley (NJ)
How wonderful. I hope you did something nice for him and somebody else too. Bright tale to start the day!
KV (NJ)
With all the gross events being revealed daily in this presidential race, how heartwarming it is to read about the true goodness of humans. Kudos to that young man!
Carolina McGoey (Greater New York)
OH, I love this! It restores my faith in humanity and put a smile on my face. Much appreciated during this crazy troubling times.
Albert Mels (New York)
"...comfy but pricey shoes in Manhattan...." Two oxymoron dispelled.
Mary Ann (New York City)
Kudos to that kind, decent, thoughtful young man.
jcsacracali (NYC)
Comfy?
Andy Morrissey (Vancouver Canada)
Nearly forty years ago I had a cowboy hat caught in closing Tube doors as I was stepping off train in London Underground. Train took off and luckily cord snapped before I would have got hauled away. Never got the hat back though.
Michelle Reiner (Wayne, PA)
Great Story. Enjoy those shoes and smile about that young man in tattoos and a T-shirt every time they are on yr feet.
Deej (Oklahoma City)
Ah Maria, what a sweet story; I didn't expect it to, but it brought tears to my eyes! And as a former New Yorker, I don't care what they say about you New York, you're all right with me:o)
Ellen Moore (Houston TX)
Thank you, Maria Laghi, for sharing this incident and outcome with us. Glad you weren't injured, even more glad the young man reacted as he did. Humankind has been so saturated with stories about murder, sexual assault, civilians killed as collateral damage by regimes that violate every international standard of decency and jeer, college athletes who post You Tube videos of themselves beating animals, children killing parents and parents vice versa -- just reading about this one act of kindness and honesty by one young man has lifted my spirit greatly. I needed that!
bfrllc (Bronx, NY)
I have a better story... I got on the subway at the 23rd St. local stop in the same car as the conductor and left a bag with shoes on the train when I got off at 42nd St. to transfer for the express. I strategically took the express train to 86th St. stop to run upstairs to catch the next #6 local and the conductor handed the bag to me! A perfect MTA experience...
Ceece (Chicago, IL)
Thank you! What a great story. Sometimes I start to get really depressed (What is this world coming to? What's happened to civility? Why can't we all just get along?) But at the end of the day, really, many people are good. They go out of their way to help others and they do the right thing. Your story reminded me that there is a lot of good in the world. And I hope you are wearing your shoes in good health.
Nathan Stone Fishbein (Philadelphia)
"In spite of everything, I still believe people are good at heart." -Anne Frank. That robust truth is realized every day in our city. I just wish more people would recognize it.
Know Nothing (AK)
A defective door? An emergency STOP pull. Are NYC subways soooo ill-equipped, sooo shoddy in operation.

And thank you to the young man.
PRant (NY)
Imagine, an honest man with tattoos!
S.L. (Briarcliff Manor, NY)
From reading the Metro diaries I have come to the conclusion that most New Yorkers are wonderful people who go out of their way for others, but it is the cranks, crackpots, and criminals who get all the glory of the front page stories.
SandyR (Oregon)
I am from a tiny town in northeast Oregon. My cousin and I went to New York for the first time last year. We are also in our 60s and found humor, kindness and helpfulness throughout New York, particularly in the subways. The people of New York are great and that is not the public image of New York, but we were delighted with all we met.

Bravo New Yorkers and young men with tattoos!
common sense (Seattle)
Kudos to the strangers we meet every day!

Smile at people, make eye contact. You never know what great things will happen.