ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at Hidden Brain. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. And today's story comes from Leahruth Jemilo. One Friday afternoon in 2021, Jemilo was on her way to a weekend getaway with friends. Her work week had been exhausting. So as she drove down the highway, she started to cry.

LEAHRUTH JEMILO: I was crying while I was driving, which - note - is not a good idea, but I was doing it as safely as possible. And along the way, I came upon the Illinois Skyway tollbooth. And as I approached the tollbooth, wearing my sunglasses, I noticed the tollbooth worker because she had these really beautiful, very bright, purple, long braids in her hair and was wearing these incredible, really long, purple feather earrings. And it's just something that you take note of. And like many interactions that you have throughout the day, you often say, hi. How are you? And the person responds, I'm good. How are you? And that's typically it, right? Well, not for me on this particular day.

The tollbooth worker said, hi, how are you? And I immediately burst into tears, and I said, I am actually not good. I am really not good. And I took my sunglasses off, and tears were streaming down my face. And she looked at me, and her eyes were so kind. And she pointed her finger at me, and she said, listen. I got you, girl. You're going to be in my prayers, and everything is going to be OK. And my tears actually dried up when she said that. And I felt lighter in that moment. And I said, thank you so much for your kindness. I really appreciate it.

I paid the toll, and I drove away. And then I found myself crying happy tears because to have a stranger who knew nothing about my life, didn't know the details or the circumstances of why it was that I was as emotional as I was - but she felt compelled and had empathy for me and wanted to help make me feel better. And it was amazing to me that she showed that kind of kindness to a stranger who just happened to be driving through her part of the tollbooth.

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SHAPIRO: Leahruth Jemilo lives in Chicago, and you can find more stories like this at hiddenbrain.org.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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