There is a story that I never get tired of hearing. It is set in a million city in the Middle East. Apartment buildings are in various shades of brown and a thin layer of sand lies between the trees in the avenues. At the large university in the city there's a small cafe with a large window opening out onto a busy street. On this day, not many cars are driving in the street because there's a demonstration a bit further up. The police have raided a student newspaper and the students are protesting the closure. 
At the café there's not much happening. A young man in his 20s is taking down a large thermos with scolding hot water from a shelf high up. He is standing on a wobbly chair, and under it is his friend. 

A few hundred yards away on the street stands three young women who are also around 20 years old. They're putting up big red posters on a wall. One of the women has a large cast around her leg. Inside the cast, she has hidden a stapler and a roll of posters. 

Everything happens very fast. Suddenly the stench of tear gas starts to spread and screams and shots can be heard. A few hundred meters away there's sirens and smoke visible. 

At the café the young man drops the thermos with hot water over his friend who screams and swears at him. The young man gets off the chair, frantically looking for something to cool his scorched friend with. And he happens to look out through the large window. What he sees is three young women who are trying to move forward in panic, and one is dragging her friend, who’s leg is in a cast. Behind them is a large cloud of riot police, batons, assault rifles, barking dogs, flying bricks, smoke and sirens. The young man lets the thoughts fill him for about a second. Then he pulls down all the blinds. Opens the door and whistles at women. They turn around and he waves them toward the café. The three women turn and run in with the plastered friend supported between them. The door is closes and shuts out all the noise outside. Five pairs of eyes looking out of a gap each in the blinds. 

The young woman with the cast turns around and looks into the café. The young man looks at her and smiles. She sighs and looks at her friends just as she had done all the thousand other times little boys have smiled at her. He just continues to smile. 

It took a couple of years before she met him again and found a place in her heart for him. Then it took another year before I was born. And every time I ask my mom if she could tell the story again, she sighs deeply. Dad just smiles. 

Bonus - http://www.payitforwardmovement.org/index.html