Sweet Young Asian Ladies and Grumpy Old Mountain Men

About a week ago, it was. I saw her walking down Volunteer Parkway in Bristol TN. She looked “out of place”, to say the least. A beautiful young Asian lady, she was.

I stopped and offered her a ride. I immediately discovered she spoke almost nary a word of English. So we made conversation as best we could.

She came up to my passenger side window, looking somewhat perplexed and even a bit fearful. But she hopped in anyway. She was jabbering and pointing, doing both incessantly. She seemed to be pointing to the convenience store, just ahead. Since my Mandarin is not quite up to date, I had to go entirely by her body language and gestures.

I was right. The convenience store was her intended destination.

She motioned for me to come inside with her. So I did.

This lady (I never got her name) picked up a few items and laid them on the counter, motioning with her hands (and pleading with her eyes) for me to come stand beside her. She pulled out some cash and paid for the items.

I relayed to the cashier that my newfound friend did not know English - and that I was there to help her, both of which were honest facts.

We returned to my car. I had no idea under heaven or this side of Beijing where to take her.

She trusted me. Perhaps that is one of the “big ideas” for writing this particular edition of this column - that human trust and empathy are possible, even when we don’t speak the same language.

As she hopped back into my car, she pulled out her cell phone. She spoke directly into it in Mandarin (I suppose). After it “translated” her words into English, she handed the phone to me. The translation read, “You are very kind as was my grandfather to me in China. I miss him very much. He live in my heart. Because you so kind to me, we too now live in each other heart. Can you please take me back this way?” (She pointed back up the Parkway.)