Commentary: Woman’s kindness in calming a screaming baby on an airplane goes viral, but why?

For all the stories about fliers behaving badly, Rebekka Garvison might tell you she knows better.

The new mom recently was flying from Chicago to Atlanta with her baby for the first time. She found a seatmate who kindly lulled the crying 4-month-old to sleep and held her for the rest of the flight.

Garvison thanked Nyfesha Miller in a Facebook post on Sept. 24 that has gone viral, with almost 95,000 shares as of Wednesday.

Why? Because we’re all pretty much used to horrifying stories about the way airline passengers behave. Because moms everywhere could relate to Garvison’s predicament and weighed in with comments.

And because crying babies on planes have become a thing that turns some of us into intolerant monsters -- but maybe not for long. Read on.

“Nyfesha Miller, you will never understand how happy this act of kindness has made my family,” Garvison wrote.

“You could’ve just rolled your eyes and been irritated like everyone else, but you took her and held her the entire flight and let me get some rest and peace of mind. It brought tears to my eyes while I sat there and watched you and Rylee sleeping next to me.”

Garvison boarded an early-morning flight on a surprise visit to see her husband, an Army firefighter stationed in Alabama, according to media reports.

She and daughter Rylee originally sat near a couple who “looked very annoyed and I could tell by their body language ... that they weren’t thrilled about sitting next to me.”

It was when she changed seats that she wound up next to Miller, a Chicago mother of three. Miller asked to hold the baby, who quickly became distracted by looking out the window and then promptly fell asleep.

“I thought: ‘Baby feels what mom is feeling, and baby is not going to stop crying,” Miller told MLive. “‘If I don’t help her, that baby is going to be crying the entire flight.’”

Miller even carried the baby off the plane until Garvison could set up a stroller and the car seat carrier she had brought with her.

“Today, I was reminded that there truly are absolutely AMAZING individuals in this world even if they are complete strangers to you,” Garvison wrote.

Let’s hope this kindness thing catches on.

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