The reward for doing the right thing, the prayer card would later say, goes to the person who does it when no one is watching.

Maya had genuinely tried to do it when no one was watching.

That the whole plane ended up watching was not her failure of humility.

It was the woman’s failure to accept a kindness the first two times it was offered.

The flight attendant knelt down beside Row 11 and spoke with the woman in a low voice.

I could not hear the words, but I could see the woman clutching the wallet to her chest with both hands, and I could see her face, and her face had been completely changed.