The milk of human kindness

Last August, Shelley Ruck, 33, started to worry when she got caught on a very hot day in a traffic tie-up on the M6 south of Lancaster in England. Cars were backed up for 30 miles. Her eight-month-old son George was with her, and she had only one bottle of baby formula left. When she noticed a crowd had gathered on an overpass to peer down and see what was happening, she called out and explained her problem. That's when an anonymous team of Good Samaritans swung into action.

They hopped in their cars and drove to a local shop where they purchased enough supplies to keep George happy for hours, including baby milk powder, two sterilized bottles filled with boiling water and a bottle of spring water. After they returned to the overpass, one of them scrambled down the embankment and handed the goods to Shelley. The Good Samaritans would not accept a penny in payment, asking only that she "make sure the baby is okay."

Traffic remained gridlocked from 2 p.m. until 11 p.m. because of an accident."Those people saved us," Shelley told the London Express.  "It was the kindest thing anyone could have done. It was absolutely unbelievable."

Kindness like this helps explain the lyrics of a song popular with Brits during WWII. "May this dear land we love so well in dignity and freedom dwell. Though worlds may change and go awry while there is still one voice to cry, There will always be an England."