A heartwarming story has become a reminder of how nice Canadians can be and has inspired people to share their own tales of kindness from strangers.
Anshoo Kamal was among the thousands of fans who packed the streets of Toronto on June 17 to welcome the Toronto Raptors home after winning the NBA championship against the Golden State Warriors four days before.
Amidst all the pandemonium on parade day, which included thousands of commuters stranded in the downtown core and a shooting that left four people hurt, Kamal dropped her identification and credit card.
But she didn’t realize she’d lost them during the parade and felt the chance of getting her belongings back could’ve been fairly slim. Her sister-in-law Sarbjit Kaur took to Twitter to share how a Good Samaritan helped change those odds.
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In a tweet on Tuesday, which has since gone viral, Kaur wrote “Wow. My sister-in-law found this note in her mail with her I.D. and credit card. NICE.” The note read:
“Dear Anshoo, My name is Oksana. I found your ID and credit card at Nathan Phillips Square during the parade. I hope you are OK and were not hurt during the shooting. Hope you had a had a great time. Go Raptors Go! All the best.”
During a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca, Kamal said it was “really touching” to have received the note and called it a “nice human touch.”
In separate interview, Kamal’s sister-in-law told CTVNews.ca over the phone that she posted the story online “because I just thought the note was so sweet that Oksana attached.”
Kaur’s tweet has garnered more than 13,200 likes and 1,700 retweets by Friday and has since inspired people to share their own stories of small acts of kindness.
STRANGERS FLOODED TWITTER WITH THEIR OWN STORIES
Kazim Habib tweeted that he thought he lost his backpack when it was torn away during the day’s shooting and subsequent stampede.
“(But) people right after that took lost backpacks and brought them near the washrooms so they wouldn't have to wade back into the craziness,” he wrote. After the shooting, other stories of kindness emerged, including a crowd of people forming a semi-circle around a young child.
One person tweeted that his wife had recently accidentally driven away from a gas station and left a wallet behind. But he wrote that a man “personally delivered it to our door and refused a reward. Cash and cards were all there!”
In reaction to Kaur’s tweet, another person tweeted that “this is Canada for me.” They wrote “I lost my precious wedding ring a year ago, while hiking in Banff National Park, and 2 days later found it in the lost & found, someone had returned it!!!!”
With another NBA championship in mind, Zak Lalonde tweeted Kamal’s story was just another reason why the soon-to-be free agent Kawhi Leonard should sign with the Raptors again.
Kamal said “this was a really nice way to see that people look out for each other.” As for Kaur, she said she’s been overwhelmed by people’s reaction to her tweet.
“It was really cute to see people sharing their own stories,” Kaur said. “It’s just nice that people from across Canada and some Americans who were sharing their own stories.”
‘THIS HAPPENS MORE OFTEN THAN WE THINK’
Kaur encouraged everyone to keep sharing more stories of kindness from strangers because “it seems that this happens more often than we think and sometimes we don’t feel like we live in a society where people will go out of their way.”
As for Kamal, she said she’s not surprised that her belongings were returned because that’s what she would’ve done. And she’s definitely not alone.
A recent study showed that people in Canada were more likely to return a wallet if there was money in it.
Toronto Police Const. Caroline de Kloet said it was “wonderful” to hear Kamal’s story. “Luckily, that individual did get their identification back because it’s always a process to re-apply for everything,” she said during a phone call with CTVNews.ca.
Although social media has made it easier for strangers to connect and return things, Kloet reminded people that the Toronto police website is available for people to file reports of missing or found items too.
