While on vacation in Wilmington during my daughter’s fall break this past weekend, I had an amazing and memorable encounter with stranger. A friend and I were practicing tennis (simply hitting) and a single gentleman approached the courts.

My friend saw he had a ball machine and looked like he was about to teach or take a lesson. He said to me he may want our court, as we had the only court without pickleball lines. I offered to the gentleman, if he would like our court, we’d be happy to move to the one beside the one we were on. He said he would. While we were picking up our waters and keys, he approached us and said: “Is it ok if I say something you? What you just did is what this country is all about. I am from India and people from my country and others come here for a better life, for the skyscrapers, for economic opportunity, jobs. But skyscrapers and big cities and money are not what this country is about. It’s about how you treat others and the kindness that is offered to strangers. We’ll never see each other again, you don’t know me, but these kinds of acts are what this country is all about.”

My friend and I who don’t align politically, while maintaining a meaningful friendship, simply looked at each other and said “he’s right” and thanked him.

What he offered was so simple, yet so profound. I hope readers take his message and hold on to it as we move forward, together, as a nation, as a people.

— Bryan Wymbs

Salisbury