From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is My Unsung Hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My on-sung hero is the kind stranger who helped me get to my grandfather's funeral. And he just says, today, you,

tomorrow me. And I never... Thank you. Thank you very much for changing my life.

Today's story comes from Maureen Futner. Earlier this year, Maureen's older sister passed away.

The death was sudden and unexpected.

I walked around in shock for quite a while.

Just a few days after she died, I had to attend a work event.

So I slapped a smile on my face, and I got on a downtown Bart train.

That's our subway in the Bay Area.

Well, given my mood, I sort of took up a two-seat space on the train,

hoping I could just be left alone.

It's rush hour, and the train is getting more, more crowded,

and a woman with a cane gets on.

I jump up to offer her my seat,

and she immediately gestures for me to sit down,

and she sits beside me.

She promptly turns and looks directly at me and asks,

So, how's your day going? This isn't something people generally do on Bart, but in that moment,

something in me new. I just had to be honest. It's been a rough week,

I said. We lost my sister. Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, she says. And she went on to share that

her wife had passed away, that it had been 10 years,

...