When Humans Are Human, Amazing Things Can Happen

"This person barely knew me, and yet he wanted to help me"

It seems as if it’s become far too easy to get caught up in that part of the world that runs on conflict and strife. You don’t have to look far for it- Hell, most of the time, it will find you. It’s that mysterious and malevolent force that manages to find ways to separate us one from another:

Black from White

Red from blue

Old from Young

College-educated from those with high school diplomas

Liberal from Conservative

Christian from Atheist

It seems as if there are a thousand and one different ways to separate us from each other. That conflict is what modern media runs on. Human interest and other “feel good” stories don’t attract clicks or eyeballs or whatever other metric it is that drives ad rates and thus revenue.

But what about those times when someone decides to engage in a random act of kindness…simply because they can? That’s why this story in Friday’s Washington Post left me with such a warm and fuzzy feeling. It was about one person’s kindness toward another human being…simply because they could and because they felt it was the right thing to do.

The story of the friendship between Latonya Young and Kevin Esch has helped to restore much of my often frayed and tattered faith in humanity. Perhaps there’s still hope for us…once we get past the labels and the hurdles and the road blocks that get thrown up in an effort to create mistrust and hatred.

As a former Uber and Lyft driver myself, I know the drill. You pick someone up, and they’re part of your life for whatever length of time it takes to get to their destination. Then you drop them off and move on to your next ride. Seldom does one passenger stick with you. Over time they tend to blur together. Sure, I remember the couple who broke up in my back seat one morning. And it’s hard to forget the guy I drove from Portland to Sea-Tac Airport late one night while he got stoned in my back seat. I did pick up a Congressman at 4:30 one morning…and learned he wasn’t a morning person.

For the most part, though, people come and go. Once they exit your vehicle, they’re quickly flushed from your memory. But, like any other human interaction, there’s the occasional one that sticks with you. Perhaps it’s because of where you are in your own life. Or a shared interest. Or…well, who knows? There’s just something about that person and/or that moment in time that creates something special.

Young, 44, a Black single mother of three, and Esch, 45, White, and recently divorced, crossed paths as people sometimes do by sheer random chance. Young, an Uber driver, picked up Esch in downtown Atlanta after a soccer match. During the 30-minute ride to Esch’s home, the two hit it off, so much so that Esch tipped Young $150, enough to pay off a utility bill she was struggling to pay. He also secured a promise from Young that she’d finish college.

Esch gave Young her phone number and she promised to keep in touch…and this is where the story becomes pretty special. How many times have we run across someone we liked and promised to stay in touch? Then we drift off into life…and blithely forget that promise. We may mean well in the moment, but life takes over, and..well, you know how it goes….

Young, who’d dropped out of Georgia State University years before because of financial pressures, felt motivated by her promise to go back to school. When she attempted to re-enroll, though, she discovered that she still owed $693 from when she’d dropped out eight years prior. Until she repaid that amount- which she didn’t have and couldn’t afford- Georgia State wouldn’t allow her to re-enroll.

She told Esch about the roadblock she’d encountered, probably out of frustration more than hope that anything would come of the conversation. Unbeknownst to her, though, something DID come of it.

When she told Esch about the financial hold, he immediately went to the university, without Young’s knowledge, and paid off her debt.

“I didn’t want that to be a roadblock, because it was something that I could change,” Esch said. “I was in a place to be able to do it, and it was the right thing to do.”

Young never imagined that her Uber passenger, of all people, would give her the financial and emotional push she needed to move forward.

“I was in shock,” Young said. “This person barely knew me, and yet he wanted to help me.”

Latonya Young’s life, when compared with that of Kevin Esch, is a textbook story of what happens when life choices run up against institutional racism. Of course, Esch could have gotten out of Young’s car at the end of the ride, said goodbye, and forgotten about her. That he didn’t says volumes not only about the quality of person he is but also about his recognition that life can be complicated. Sometimes one choice- like getting pregnant at 16 as Young did- can lead one down a path in which there seems to be no exit door leading to a better life.

Sometimes it takes one person who gives a damn- and $693- to provide a person with a hand up (not a hand out)- a nudge they might need to set them on a better path. It also takes a person who hasn’t given up, who wants a better life…but just needs a hand up to reach a place that might just allow them to grab it.

Esch was fortunate enough to have been provided chances in life that put him in a place where $693 was far easier to come by for him than for Young. For him, it wasn’t about the money; it was about what the $693 would allow Latonya Young the opportunity to accomplish.

When she first learned that Esch had paid her debt to Georgia State without her knowledge, she told him that she wasn’t certain when she’d be able to pay him back. What she didn’t know was that he wanted only one thing in return for his clearing her debt:

Pay me back by graduating.

And so she set to work on doing exactly that.

In December 2019, Young received her Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Georgia State, with an appreciative Esch proudly in attendance. She received her Bachelor’s Degree on May 6th from Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies…and Esch was once again beaming proudly in the audience.

Young is currently applying for full-time working in criminal justice and has written a book, From Broken to Blessed, which chronicles her journey and comes out June 7th.

That 30-minute Uber ride after an Atlanta United FC soccer match ended up changing two lives. The path of Latonya Young’s life was forever altered for the better because one person decided to give a damn…and because she didn’t give up on herself.

Kevin Esch’s life was changed by his decision to do what he could to make a difference in someone’s life. His compassion and caring has helped to make the world a better place. He wasn’t expecting to be recognized for his generosity, but his example is something all of us could learn from.

To borrow and paraphrase something that Margaret Mead once said, don’t ever think that the actions of one person can’t change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever really has.