Magic is real

It’s not that I don’t believe in the kindness of strangers. I do. Mostly.

It’s just that sometimes it really goes beyond. Like above and beyond. Like way, way above and beyond. All the way to the 12th row of a once-in-a-lifetime concert.

Jenny Block with her wife and friends at the Elton John concert

But I’m getting ahead of myself. …

I was on a flight, eating my lunch, minding my business as I am known to do, especially on flights (I do not like to get into conversations that I cannot get out of) when a man sat down next to me and immediately started talking to me. He said he had tickets to the Elton John concert in

Houston later that week and couldn’t go and hadn’t had any luck selling or even transferring the tickets.

“Do you have someone you can transfer them to?” I asked.

“I do. Sort of. She’s a friend of a friend and she has some friends that might be able to use the tickets. Can you go?” he asked.

I froze a bit.

What did he just say?

I said, “Yes.” I think.

I was instantly worried. Was he trying to scam me? Did he want money? My information? Something else?

And why was I automatically so mistrusting, I wondered.

“Well, if you can figure out how to use them, you can use them,” he said.

We talked a bit about life and his company and his family and why he couldn’t go to the show and where he was traveling at that moment. I did a little Googling and discovered that a screenshot of the QR code wouldn’t do anyone any good because it’s designed to change every sixty seconds to keep people from scamming other people.

“Looks like the only thing you can do is sell or transfer,” I told him. “Sending someone a photo of the code is a no-go.”

“Well, like I said, if you can transfer them, they’re all yours,” he said again. “Here’s my password. I need to nap for a bit.”

He gave me his email and password and dozed off to sleep. After buying Internet access and talking to my wife and my best friend about whether or not this could possibly be real and safe, I managed to transfer the tickets to myself. I was shocked I had managed it after the multitude of steps it

required, and I was worried he will have changed his mind by the time he awoke.

But I figured I could always transfer them back to him or to his friend’s friend.

After an hour or so, he woke up.

“I transferred the tickets to myself,” I said. “But I can totally transfer them back.”

“Why? Don’t be silly. I do not want $3,000 worth of tickets to go to waste,” he said.

Yup. You read that right: $3,000.

He explained that he had bought them two years ago, pre-pandemic, and now that the show was finally rescheduled, they had decided as a family not to go because of COVID concerns. The $3,000 was long gone, he said. Now he just wanted someone to enjoy what was sure to be a stellar experience.

We chatted a bit more. He napped a little more. I fretted as I couldn’t see my app or the QR code while we were still in the air because of the speed of the in-flight WiFi, I imagined.

As we began to descend, I thanked him again and again. “I don’t know what to say,” I told him.

“Just have a great time. Quick hug,” he said. We side hugged as best as we could in our seats. “I hope you have a great time. I have to run when we land to make my connection. But send photos.”

“I will,” I said. “Promise.”

Finally, we landed, and there they were: 12th-row-almost-center seats to Elton John.

He jumped up and headed off, saying, “I hope they work!”

“You’re making me nervous again,” I said.

He laughed and then he was gone.

I got off the plane in a daze. Had that just happened? Is this still somehow a scam, I wondered. Would the tickets not work?

Is he wanted by the FBI who would grab us when the tickets were scanned, assuming we were involved in whatever untoward thing he was wrapped up in?

Would his wife demand money or something else later on?

Why? Why would this stranger do something so incredibly nice?

Well, all I can tell you is that we went to the show, and it was incredible. The seats were incredible. Elton John was incredible. No FBI at the door.

We had the best time, and I swear we all kept pinching ourselves from the moment we arrived to the moment Elton John left the stage.

I texted photos to the generous stranger who texted back, “I am so happy! The thought of the tickets going to waste killed me! Huzzah!”

I still shake my head thinking about it. I am so sad I felt so mistrusting. But I am even more grateful not just for the truly life-changing show I got to experience with people I love, but also for the reminder that there is so much good out in the world.

We get back what we put out. I hope that means that — at least most of the time — I put forth kindness and light. That’s my goal any way.

Be safe. Use your head. Don’t trust just anyone or anything.

But also remember, magic is real. And, sometimes, just sometimes, things really aren’t too good to be true.