Amid intense grief, a college student is comforted by a stranger on a plane

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.

In the fall of 2008, Cara Beth Rogers was taking part in a study abroad program in Rabat, Morocco. She was 20 years old and looking forward to spending the semester overseas.

But three weeks into the program, Rogers received a call from her parents. Her younger brother, Luke, had died in a boating accident.

“He and I were 15 months apart, and the news of his passing rocked me to my core,” Rogers said.

Rogers needed to get back to her hometown of Seattle. The next day was a blur of booking airline tickets and packing her bags. Soon she found herself on the plane, alone for the first time since she got the news.

“I will never forget the way that it felt to try to sit still. It was impossible,” she said. “I couldn’t stop moving because the strength of the emotions was so intense.”

She was surrounded by other passengers. But sitting there in the aisle seat, Rogers felt alone.

“I felt like people were avoiding eye contact with me. They weren’t really sure what to do with me,” she said.

Then, partway through the flight, a man crouched in the aisle next to her seat. He made direct eye contact with her and began to speak softly and slowly.

“He said, ‘I know you don’t know me, and I don’t know what’s going on for you. But I want you to know that if you need anything, I’m here,'” Rogers remembered.

After thanking the man, Rogers watched him go back to his seat. They didn’t interact again, but his reaching out to her made the rest of the flight a little more bearable.

“I felt like I was in this cavern of just, like, untenable emotion and that I was deeply, deeply alone,” she said. “And knowing that I was on a plane with somebody that could see me and that knew that I needed something, even if [he] didn’t know what it was, was an incredibly powerful experience. I will be forever grateful to him.”

My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.