Does anybody actually like going to the airport? If you’re anything like the average person, a trip to the airport comes with “airport mood,” a generally anxious and irritable version of yourself who is unpleasant to be around. No matter how early you arrive, it seems to never be early enough to check your bags, print your passes, get through security, get settled in the waiting area and maybe get a bite to eat before your flight. Then there are all the hassles of the actual flight as well!
It’s for these reasons and others that a little kindness in the airport goes a long way—and why this airport story has gone viral.
For Beth Bornstein Dunnington, it was going to be just another flight out of LAX until something remarkable happened.
Dunnington was about to board a flight to Portland when she heard a child screaming and shouting. She looked around and saw the source of the noise—it was a toddler who refused to get on the plane. But how the situation got dealt with took her breath away. She wrote a long Facebook post about her experience which has since gone viral:
“Something extraordinary at LAX today… (writing this on the plane). I was at the gate, waiting to get on my plane to Portland. Flights to two different cities were boarding on either side of the Portland fight. A toddler who looked to be eighteen or so months old was having a total meltdown, running between the seats, kicking and screaming, then lying on the ground, refusing to board the plane (which was not going to Portland).
His young mom, who was clearly pregnant and traveling alone with her son, became completely overwhelmed… she couldn’t pick him up because he was so upset, he kept running away from her, then lying down on the ground, kicking and screaming again. The mother finally sat down on the floor and put her head in her hands, with her kid next to her still having a meltdown, and started crying.
Then, this gorgeous thing (I’m crying just writing this)… the women in the terminal, there must have been six or seven of us, not women who knew each other, approached and surrounded her and the little boy and we knelt down and formed a circle around them. I sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” to the little boy… one woman had an orange that she peeled, one woman had a little toy in her bag that she let the toddler play with, another woman gave the mom a bottle of water.
Someone else helped the mom get the kid’s sippy cup out of her bag and give it to him. It was so gorgeous, there was no discussion and no one knew anyone else, but we were able to calm them both down, and she got her child on the plane. Only women approached. After they went through the door we all went back to our separate seats and didn’t talk about it… we were strangers, gathering to solve something. It occurred to me that a circle of women, with a mission, can save the world. I will never forget that moment.”
The otherworldly kindness of the women in the airport that day affected Dunnington deeply—and has spoken to readers around the world.
Raising a child is a real challenge, one that becomes even harder in an airport. Although our normal instinct is to be impatient and to think only of ourselves in these situations, this story shows just how far some kindness and understanding can go towards making someone else’s life better. Not to mention, it helped everyone else get on the plane as well.
Thanks to all the kind women who helped out that day!
https://www.facebook.com/bethbornsteindunnington/posts/10156091003118188?utm_source=LTcom&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=mom
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