Traveling, Trusting and Recognizing Human Progress

By Patricia Mohr@

Hefei, China—Even small things are interesting in a place like China.
On the day we traveled by train from Hefei to Shanghai, I learned an important lesson. While waiting in the station, I met several stocky women dressed humbly and looking as if they were selling something. They gathered around me, pointing ferociously at themselves and my luggage. I had no idea what they were saying. I kept saying “no, no, no, no, no.”

Yet I couldn’t shake the ladies. They spoke with an increasing sense of urgency and intensity. I started questioning whether they had an important message to convey. I worried that I was doing something wrong. Why were these ladies targeting me out of a group of 35 people?

I brushed the women off as politely as I could and moved to the center of the station with the rest of my group. But before too long one of the women found me and resumed where she had left off. This time she spoke a language I understood.

“I carry your bag,” she said, smiling broadly.

I was impressed she had learned an English phrase in such a short period of time. It was human progress at work. Still, I couldn’t see why I would need her to carry a bag with four functioning wheels on it.

A line started forming on the side of the depot, and we moved toward it. Soon enough a signal sounded and the line of passengers began moving. Soon people charged forward. The next few moments were hazy and hurried. The departure was imminent, and the distance to the train was treacherous. Every man and woman had to fend for him and herself.

I discovered I needed the woman much more than I had imagined.

“I carry your bag,” she said once more. I nodded my head in agreement.

She threw the big bag over her head and marched up a huge flight of stairs, never pausing for a breath. Once she made it up, she kept moving forward, heading down another set of stairs on the top side of the platform. I stared at her thick arms in awe, following her as she made her way through the crowd. Everyone started running. I ran too. There was no time for thoughts or regrets. Gasping for air as I arrived in front of the train door, I paid the woman something. Then she was gone.

It was almost as if as the train wheels started moving as soon as I sat down. I stared ahead in amazement that I had made it aboard. I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the persistence of the lady with the strong arms who knew I needed her long before I realized it. It was human progress at work.