Dear Sir,

Not often can a person write of a blizzard of kindness. We came as tourists to Bermuda on August 8, a Saturday.

In the evening, not long before midnight, we asked directions from a man in his front yard just north of Hamilton. The man immediately went to his car, saying the walk was too long; we were headed in the wrong direction. He opened his gate and offered us a welcome lift.

Sunday, midday, as we walked along a road, two women stopped and turned around and asked us if we needed a ride. We did. We had not been able to find the location of the dock where we were to meet an excursion boat, the Hat Trick.

Had it not been for these caring ladies, we would have missed our snorkelling trip. Late in the day, as we headed home, another lady again turned around, pulled up to us and offered us a lift.

The next day, at the far tip of the Island, we walked along the road facing an impending evening shower.

Yet another woman turned around, picked us up and drove us miles to an express bus stop. And, then, again, yet another two other ladies turned around as we walked down an empty road and offered us a ride. Had it not been for these caring ladies, we would have been either stranded, bewildered or lost.

Many of the women who helped said they are part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses community. I have no idea of the faith of the others who were kind to us.

I do know that we are biblically enjoined to recall that “once you were strangers in a strange land” ... but the practice of aiding the stranger is as rare as it appears to be routine among people in Bermuda.

Please know that I have travelled for many years as a student and then as a diplomat and, finally, as peregrinating scholar now past retirement age.

In all my years, I have never witnessed as much kindness in such a short time as we experienced in Bermuda.

Each time, help was offered as an expression of a good and kind heart.

To say that I and my companion, a fellow academic, were touched is an understatement.

Cordially,

JAMES A NATHAN PhD

Khalid Bin Sultan

Eminent Scholar

Professor

Auburn University

Montgomery, Alabama