Dear stranger.

I left the house too late. As I shut the front door behind me I noticed that I had forgotten to wear a belt.  I had only 7 minutes to reach the train so there was no time to turn back. I felt like running but I was afraid that if I ran my pants would drop, so I didn't run. I walked while pulling up my pants every now and then,well aware of the fact that it now looked as if my butt was sagging. No one wants to be seen with a saggy butt. Oh well..there are worse things, like bad hair and a shiny nose.
I passed my neighbors van and looked for him. My neighbor is a friendly 70 year old man with white hair and a white beard, who is always wearing his French hat. He is a bit old-fashioned, has hip problems and can usually be found sitting in his van. He knows all the rumors in the neighborhood, and is always in for a chat. And there he was, what a surprise. I greeted him with great enthusiasm, asked him how he was doing as I kept moving. The last time I saw him, I stood still to talk to him and he told me many things,  for example that my other neighbor, a Polish young man with a family, recently died from some kind of attack, that another one recently went to jail and that another one has recently returned home after recovering from a burn out. All very shocking and interesting but it took more than 30 minutes. He greeted me with a smile on his face: 'Dag lachebekje', which means something like 'Hello smiley face'. We wished each other a pleasant day and I rushed further to the train. 
I reached the train station in 3 minutes, with time to spare. I was already in the train, that was heading towards the university, when an African looking man entered with two suitcases, a small modern fluorescent green one and a big old fashioned one, that looked bulky and heavy. He was probably on his way to the airport, which was the end destination of the train. I noticed that he was struggling to lift the heavy suitcase in the train. Should I help him? I hesitated for a moment. Yes I have to help him. I stretched my arm out towards the suitcase. Too late, it was no longer necessary. It left me feeling a bit silly. Nevertheless he had noticed my effort, looked up and said: 'Thank you!'
During the train-ride that took about 20 minutes, he was physically no more than 2 meters away from me. I did not start a conversation but took my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through Facebook and did more irrelevant and totally unimportant things just to pass the time. I noticed that he took his phone out as well. That way we distanced ourselves from each other. I almost forgot about his existence. 
The time flew by. I reached my destination. As I moved towards the exit, eyes still fixated on my phone, I noticed from the corners of my eyes how he looked up from his. My attention switched towards him. As we caught each others eyes he smiled at me and said 'Fijne dag!', which means 'Have a pleasant day'. I looked into his eyes and at his face for a short moment as I too wished him a pleasant day and jumped out of the train.
I jumped of the stairs, signed out with my public transport card, walked pass the store where they sell the most beautiful bouquet of flowers in the world, left the train station, walked to the university and took the elevator up to the 4th floor.

 I had totally forgotten about the fact that I had forgotten my belt in the morning and was walking around with a butt that looked as if it was sagging. Who cares anyway and why would I let something like a sagging butt influence my day? 

Instead I felt extremely happy and was still smiling by the thought of this African looking man I had met in the train. I can not remember what he was wearing, nor any details of his face but he looked so genuine and friendly. He had spoken to me and it felt like he had put 100 blessings in that one little sentence.
I felt extremely thankful for his attention and all these blessings. I am thankful to him for reminding me how important it is not to forget about each others existence and for reminding me how much difference such a small gesture, like trying to help with a suitcase and wishing each other a pleasant day, can make. I will not forget about this friendly stranger. He made my day.
I am now sending this dear stranger all my blessings and all the luck during his travels.