Katta rahmat, (thank you) Facebook!

Have you ever wondered if Facebook could save a person's life? Well, after a recent experience, my answer is a definitive YES!
It was a cold, freezing day in LA....and by freezing I mean 90°F!
I was at a cafe in LA writing the LOL book and had my British passport with me having just come back from Hong Kong with the small, but very important government document. Or so I thought!

When I got home, I logged on to Facebook only to see a message in my inbox titled "passport."
I opened the mail only to read the words "I have yours." I immediately checked my pockets and to my utter surprise and horror, my passport was missing! I freaked out! I needed my passport! I couldn't leave the country without it. An important factor considering I was traveling in less than two days! I immediately sent a message back to the man who had my "get out of America" card.
I asked for his number and gave him mine praying he would respond. I waited anxiously. Nothing. Finally, after forty-five minutes of pure, unfiltered hell, I got a call from a guy with a strange accent that sounded like a mixture of Middle Eastern, Mexican and Swedish! But, yet his name was Johnny. I could barely understand what the man who may have been related to Chewbacca was saying, but that didn't stop me from furiously scribbling down what I thought was his address.

An hour later, I was alone on a street with no lights and no name desperately calling Johnny. But, I kept getting Johnny's voice mail (at least I think it was Johnny's voice mail - he must have recorded his message in a dentist's chair). Finally, I get a call from an unknown number and to my sheer delight it was Johnny. All I could hear him say was "back up! back up." So I did....Finally, I heard a loud "STOP!" I looked out of the window and saw two huge men waving frenetically at me, screaming! I couldn't make out what he was saying, but my guess is it wasn't "hi."

Turns out he was a cheerful, bubbly 40-something guy with a still ambiguous origin and geographically untraceable accent. And turns out the other man was actually his wife (or girlfriend), Janet. She was equally friendly and equally threatening. I kept scanning their hands for something that resembled my passport, but nothing.
That's it. I was done. But before I prepared myself to become their manservant, Johnny yelled "I love your movies! You are famous aren't you?"

My thoughts immediately went to "deny anything he asks and avoid blackmail", but instead I sheepishly grinned and uttered "Well, I've been on TV a few times....and done some movies."

"Yes, we loved you as an Uzbek Rapper and terrorist - so realistic!"

The need in me to yell a "how the hell do you know?" swiftly became replaced with an incredibly awkward and goofy grin on my face that would make Mr. Bean look like James Bond!

"We have subscribed for all your movies on Youtube." clamored Janet in what I thought was a Russian-Japanese accent.

Before, I could thank her for being my stalker, Johnny jumped in...

"We found your passport in the cafe, but couldn't find you. So, we looked to find a number and called it. Some woman with a confusing accent picked up and yelled at us for waking her up at 3 in the morning. Before we could finish our sentence, she slammed the phone on us."

That woman was my mother. Thanks, mom. Love you.

"And so we looked around for you on Google", Johnny continued.
"And we couldn't find your number, but we did enjoy your videos."

"Loved your videos. Especially the Uzbek rapper/terrorist - so realistic!' Janet enthusiastically joined in!



"And then it hit us, Johnny continued.
"What if he is on Facebook?"
"And so we contacted you."

Wow. They were so committed to getting me my passport that they tracked me down on Facebook. And they weren't members of Facebook!
They joined Facebook just to give me back my passport!
They had one friend on Facebook! Me!

When Johnny and Janet finally gave me my passport, I offered them money or tickets to the Comedy Store, but they didn't want it. They just wanted me to sign an autograph
in Uzbek (thank God my English scrawl looks Uzbek).

Besides being thrilled that I had regained my power to land on or leave US soil, I was deeply touched by two people who made such a huge effort to find me and give me my possession.

How many people would be too in love with their crackberry to even notice a passport lying around?
How many people would have turned the passport in and then left the cafe to deal with it?
How many people would have given up when the woman who brought me into this world yelled at them?

Not Johnny and Janet. Their kindness not only reaffirmed my faith in the good in people, but also inspired me to realize that even though the news focuses on the weaknesses or tragedies of humanity, our ability to care, our ability to be humane is what truly makes us human.

We all want to be inspired, but we don't need to look anywhere other than the '"spirit" inside of us - the spirit of caring, the spirit of compassion.

Johnny and Janet are truly inspirational.

Johnny and Janet are my friends on Facebook.

Love and Laughter,

Anand