Find the Helpers, Pull the Espresso

It started as a small, incidental thing—just a minor interaction at an airport coffee stand—but it got me thinking about something important.

After nearly two weeks bouncing between Philadelphia, Miami, New York City, and Cleveland, I landed at Ben Gurion International Airport on Monday morning, jet-lagged and in dire need of caffeine. Normally, I wait until I reach my final destination before indulging in coffee, but after a bumpy, sleep-deprived flight, desperate times called for desperate measures of espresso.

“Double espresso, short,” I said to the barista. “Sababa,” he replied. “And what’s your name?”

“Stephen.”

“Ah, Hawking,” he said, grinning as he handed me my receipt. “Na’im meod—nice to meet you.”

I laughed.

“Actually, which Stephen would you want to be if you could be any Stephen?” he asked.

“I think I’d still be me,” I said. “Too late to stop now, right?”

He laughed.

“But if I had to pick, I’d go with Spielberg—for the imagination.”

“Yafe,” he said. “Nice one. But you’re already a cool Stephen. Just stick with that, achi.” He winked. “Welcome home and have a great day.”

And just like that, an otherwise exhausting return turned into something special. A simple, human moment—a kind word, a playful exchange, a bit of warmth amid the chaos of travel—completely shifted the tone of my day.

With all the shouting, posturing, and bad-faith maneuvering filling the public square in the places I care about most, this moment reminded me that the balance of sanity and security don’t belong exclusively to politicians, influencers, or, God forbid, deranged terrorists. The simplest interactions—how we treat each other in the mundane, everyday moments—may well be the most effective way to create stability, healing, and even a little justice in the world.

There was a book everyone raved about a while back called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. I never read it, but I assume the title pretty much sums it up. If I had to pick a version of that wisdom, I’d go with the great Mr. Rogers, who taught kids like me growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s how to live a good life: “Find the helpers.”

Find the helpers. That’s not all you need to know, but it’s a lot of what you need to know—even when you’re getting old like me. A kind word, a little curiosity, an unexpected smile, and a well-pulled espresso—it might not fix the world, but it nudges it in the right direction. And sometimes, that’s enough.