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.

I do not know the full name of my unsung hero.

She came straight up to me, she looked me in the eyes, and she smiled. This is my story about my

unsung hero. Thank you. Thank you very much for changing my life.

Today's story comes from Sophia Cruel.

Sophia still remembers the day back in 2013

when she was alone at an airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was on her way to Berlin for a school trip.

She had tried to convince herself she was excited, but really she felt nervous and unprepared.

After her luggage was scanned and she got through the security checkpoint,

she found a bench and started putting on her shoes.

And that's when she heard her name called over the loudspeaker.

You know, Sophia Kroll, will you please return to the TSA security checkpoint?

It's incredibly vague.

It's like we have something that belongs to you. And I'm like what in the world could they have that belongs to me?

So I go back and of course I haven't finished putting on all my things yet, right? So I'm still just

combobulated like I don't have my belt on, so I both feel and

rather look like a mess. And I come back up to the checkpoint and I'm like, I'm Sophia Kroll,

what do you want for me?

And there's this guy there in his TSA security uniform.

He was holding her ticket and her passport.

He told her that she had forgotten them in one of those plastic bins.

...