Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Smile Card Class On The El Train

Yesterday evening I was on the EL train in Chicago. Two men in their early twenties got on and one took the seat next to me. His friend was going to sit in another set of seats. I got up and said, "Oh, here. Take my seat so you can sit with your friend."  When I sat down he said to his friend, "She deserves a hospitality award."    I smiled, turned around and said, "Thank you, but not necessary." To which he replied, "It was cool a thing to do." He seemed so delighted by what to me seemed a rather small gesture.    I sat quietly for a minute and then had a 'BING!" moment. I reached in my wallet and pulled out a Smile card. I turned towards the young man and said, "Here, please pay it forward." He took the card. I turned to face forward in my seat and behind ... Read Full Story >>

6469 Reads

An Opportunity in Traffic

Each season, I go through my kitchen shelves and clear out items that were purchased on an impulse to "try something new", or that were part of a 2-for-1 deal, or for a new recipe that I never got around to trying.

This morning, I gathered all of the items into a bag and took it with me to drop off at our soup kitchen downtown. The day turned out to be quite hectic, and I ended up running around for most of it. On my way home, I realized that I had forgot to make my food donation!

At that point, I was stuck in a long line of traffic. Cars were barely moving. I looked out of the driver's side window and noticed a homeless man very respectfully standing there with his backpack. Immediately, my mind jumped to the undelivered food.

I rolled down the window and asked if he would like a bag of food. He was so sweet and humble, and broke into the biggest smile. From his expression, it was as if he had won the lottery.

I handed him the bag and wished him a nice day.

Afterwards, as my car continued inching along at a snail's pace, I smiled. Grateful, for once, to be stuck in traffic!

1477 Reads

A Man Without Shoes

Today, as I was riding a transit bus from Unicity to downtown, I did not realize that I would be a witness to something amazing. The ride was, as usual, long and uneventful, until we reached the corner of Portage and Main Street. That's when the driver pulled over. This, of course, surprised all of the passengers on the bus. But, what happened next still brings tears to my eyes. The bus driver jumped off the bus to chat with a man that looked to be down on his luck; by all accounts, a homeless man. I first thought the driver was going to offer the man a ride until our driver took off his own shoes and gave them to the man on the sidewalk. That is when I realized that the man the driver was chatting with was barefoot. The bus was dead silent. I think we were all stunned and ... Read Full Story >>

9452 Reads

How I Spent $100 on Smiles

Thank you, HelpOthers, for the opportunity to share smiles with flowers! Several life glitches have slowed this down, but the kindness keeps going. Below are a couple stories of ways my family and I have gotten to tag others! Act #1: Doorstep Smiles This evening, we are going to leave potted flowers on a wonderful lady's stairs, with a smile card and ribbons. Though she seems lonely to me when I see her sometimes, she always shares a smile for others. So I thought it perfect to leave her some smiles in return. Update: My ganddaughter, hubby, and I walked over this evening, and the timing was perfect. We reached over the gate that leads to her stairs and left the potted mum flowers on the steps, along with the stick, smile card and ribbons tied to it. Another pot below that stair, and the last below that. I have to say, this was so ... Read Full Story >>

4361 Reads

The Sandwich that Changed My Life

It was the Greek shopkeeper in a small corner shop in London. She taught me about the disarming power of an act of kindness, which has motivated me to give. I was a student, single and very poor. I would work early mornings and late nights to pay for my studies, and I was tired– really tired– all the time. On the day I went to that shop for the first time, I was sick with a virus and a very high fever. I had been off work for a few days, and I had run out of food. Because I had been working so hard since I had moved to town, I also had no friends nearby who could help. So I ventured out to get some food. Normally, I would have gone to the supermarket, but on this occasion, I went into the Greek shop because it was closer. I picked up ... Read Full Story >>

8679 Reads

Breakfast with Strangers

Recently, my husband and I were visiting a dear aunt in another state. My aunt cannot leave the house.  She loves hamburgers and fries, but only eats them when they somehow find their way to her through kind visitors.  While we were visiting, we told her that we would go get breakfast and bring back her favorites upon our return.  At the restaurant, we were seated at a booth and ordered.  The booths had very low dividers, so people could overhear conversations or converse back and forth with neighboring tables.  Next to us was a family of four: a mother, father, daughter and son.  The boy was younger, so he was kind of busy, moving around, smiling when our eyes met, and just generally sweet.  We started a conversation with him and found that this was the first day of school for his slightly older sister, so they were celebrating by going to ... Read Full Story >>

1979 Reads

Refills, Smiles, And A Blessed Day

Yesterday my husband and I stopped into a Whataburger for lunch. As we were sitting waiting for our order to come I noticed an older man in a wheelchair roll himself over to a table.   He was all by himself and he sat there a few minutes, looking around, smiling all the time. No one seemed to notice him but me. I got up and went over to his table and asked if I could get him something to drink.     He smiled and said, "Oh yes! And thank you so kindly. I'd like some rootbeer please."     When I brought his rootbeer I told him my name and said if he needed anything else to just wave and let me know.   We were in the Whataburger a good 30-40 minutes. The man just kept smiling at everyone and looking around the restaurant as he quietly ate his burger and fries.   As we were ... Read Full Story >>

1714 Reads

A Free Ride To Scotland

I was employed as a Housing Officer, dealing with housing and homlessness issues.    A young man aged 18 came into our office in Yorkshire, England. He had been visiting the area with friends when his wallet was stolen. Now he couldn't get back home to Scotland. He asked for help.    My job was assessing housing applications and dealing with homelessness, not providing money for travel. When I explained to the young man that we couldn't help him he stated to cry! He said his mother was disabled and didn't know where he was. His phone had been stolen with his wallet and he hadn't contacted her for the past two days.    I asked him to wait outside until I finished work at 5.30pm. Then I tried to think of a way to help him.   After work I drove him all the way to Scotland! We arrived at his mother's house at 10.30pm. She was ... Read Full Story >>

3804 Reads

The "Junker" Samaritan

My mom's car broke down on the highway after visiting my house. She was alone and this was before she had a cell phones.    She was stuck and elderly and it was getting dark.    Her car broke down close to an overpass. She decided to walk to a gas station and use the pay-phone to call for help. As she waited for a chance to cross the busy highway lots of cars sped by. And many of these cars were very nice automobiles. And many of the drivers were very clean-cut, well groomed people. They appeared to be the types of people one would be comfortable accepting assistance from. But, they did not offer assistance. They continued on their way.    And then along came a "junker," a pretty beat up looking car with a pretty rough looking fellow behind the wheel. He was unshaven and disheveled, but he stopped and offered mom a ... Read Full Story >>

1722 Reads

26 Random Acts of Kindness for Sandyhook

Ann Curry is calling on people all over the world to do 26 random acts of kindness for each of the people killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Here's some inspiration from people who have already begun:   1. "Let my 4-year-old pick a car to leave flowers on at Walgreens." Via: @kristen97805958   2. Via: gramfeed.com   3. "Day 2: 100% tip for a server at one of my favorite lunch spots!" Via: instagram.com   4. "Instead of asking Santa for something, they brought him a Starbucks gift card." Via: @MichelleBoudin   5. "First act of kindness: paying for the car behind us crossing over the bridge." Via: facebook.com   6. "An amazing woman just came in and did this & tipped us $20. There are beautiful people in the world." Via: instagram.com   7. "Felt awesome to leave this on a car in the parking lot today. Not life changing but kindness is contagious." Via: instagram.com   8. "Day 1: A latte for the kind security guard who stands outside our building, rain or shine, making sure we are safe." Via: instagram.com   9. "This notecard and $ was given ... Read Full Story >>

23.7K Reads

All the Little Bits

Yesterday, my daughter turned thirteen.
 
We had some guests over to celebrate, and amidst the festivities, a gift that her father bought her before he died broke. The gift had meant a lot to my daughter, and it was a sharp reminder of his absence when it broke. We all felt a bit emotional.
 
Then, this morning, I woke up to the sound of rattling in the kitchen. When I got out of bed to investigate, I found my 7-year-old baby, sprawled on the kitchen floor with garbage bin contents strewn around. The little one was sifting through al the debris to locate all the broken bits. I sat down and together, we put together my daughter's gift by the time she woke up.

Today, I've tasted a bit of true goodness and feel content with the world! 

1722 Reads

The Top 10 Kindness Stories of 2012

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness. " -- Dalai Lama  Ever year, we are amazed by every-day stories of kindness, compassion, warmth, and love that fills this space with inspiration and hope.  We are grateful for having such an amazing community to grow together with and spread ripples of kindness throughout the world.  Here are the top 10 stories of 2012!   My Sneaky Mirror of Kindness  High school is always full of girls who have little self-confidence and lots of negative thoughts relating to self-image. so, one lunch break, I did something to help! With the help of some friends I made a giant love heart on the girl's bathroom mirror!  It was made out of love heart shaped sticky notes with kind messages on each of them. The school was buzzing with chatter about the "Love Heart ... Read Full Story >>

35.4K Reads

Top 10 Kindness Stories of 2012 - Story #1 - My Sneaky Mirror Of Kindness

High school is always full of girls who have little self-confidence and lots of negative thoughts relating to self-image. so, one lunch break, I did something to help!

With the help of some friends I made a giant love heart on the girl's bathroom mirror!It was made out of love heart shaped sticky notes with kind messages on each of them. The school was buzzing with chatter about the "Love Heart Mirror" and who might have made it. It had made a big impact in my school even the principle took notice. That night my Facebook news-feed was flooded with pictures of girls inside my heart of kindness! 
 
I felt so good and proud of what I had done even if no-one knew it was me. See, that's the added bonus about completing random acts of kindness - you feel fantastic!

 

9641 Reads

Top 10 Stories of 2012 - Story #2 - Finding A Job..when You Least Expect It!

So I haven't held a job since April of 2011 due to multiple health issues. I currently draw disability but am having trouble finding money at the end of the month so I decided I would look for a partime job. I have been applying, interviewing, etc since July with no prospects. I haVe been told mostly that I am overqualified, or they need fulltime etc. I had been getting pretty discouraged. I started my randomn act of kindness way back in February for me personally, not to get anything back but a good feeling. With no job prospects and with the winter coming meaning higher utility costs etc I had been feeling pretty down and gloomy. I was actually asking myself why cant someone be kind enough to take me on as an employee. This past Tuesday evening it was freezing cold outside and going on 9pm as I was waiting at a city ... Read Full Story >>

19.8K Reads

Top 10 Stories of 2012 - Story #3 - The Gift of Acceptance

As  she was waiting for her clothes to dry, an elderly woman sat silently on the bench and mumbled to herself.  At first I thought that she may have a mental illness as she was shabbily dressed and simply sat mumbling. Her soft yet repetitve words seemed to have annoyed everyone and people sitting nearby moved away from her as many do homeless people. Some had even asked the woman on duty if she could be removed. I sat on the bench beside her and glanced over, prepared to smile...but she did not look my way. So we sat together waiting for clothes to dry and  we said not a word to each other. Yet she continued her "mumbling" that actually seemed to lull me into a quiet and peaceful place. When her clothes stopped she simply remained seated, in no rush to get them folded before they wrinkled like so many of us do. I started to wonder who ... Read Full Story >>

24.0K Reads

Sidewalk Samaritans

For the past two years, a friend of mine has been battling cancer.  Every so often, when I have a little extra in my bank account, I send her a check.  The other day, she called me in tears.  She had lost one of the checks I sent her, along with an insurance check.  "I was having a hard day and decided to go out for a walk.  I was going to stop at the bank and, when I got there, the checks were missing from my pocket!" she cried.  "I looked everywhere, but I can't find them."  I told her not to worry, and that I would drop off another check that same day.  A couple of hours later, she called to tell me that two people had been on a walk and found the checks on the ground.  They had brought them to the police station, and, shortly after, an officer ... Read Full Story >>

1552 Reads

Walking with Warmth

Our famiiy lives in Australia, and we are fortunate to be able to travel back to Canada now and then to visit relatives.  We often make this trip during the winter months. In Canada, the winter weather gets icy cold, and ever person in this country must have a warm jacket to get through the season.  At the end of each visit, on the evening before our flights departs back to Australia, we've made a tradition of walking the streets with our winter coats, scarves, gloves and hats in hand, looking for someone in need of warm clothing.  After all, we won't need them when we return to the warmth of Australia. During our last trip, as we combed through the wintry streets, I spotted a young man shivering in a light windcheater (or windbreaker), politely asking begging for money for food.   My maternal instincts kicked in. We gave him 20 dollars.  Then, ... Read Full Story >>

1329 Reads
  • Posted by diane.roberts44
  • Dec 29, 2012
  • Comments (7)
  • Share Story

Top 10 Stories of 2012: Story # 4 - A Young Boy's Groceries

I stopped at a grocery store the other day because I was about to go on a long drive and I wanted to buy my favorite beverage for the trip.  It wasn't the store I normally go to, just one I passed along the way. As I walked up to the entrance, I noticed a man and a boy who was about 10 or 12 years old standing at the front of the store.  Customers walked past, as the man handed them half-sheets of white paper.  I walked up to them with curiosity, wondering what cause they were representing.  As I got closer, I saw that they had two carts starting to fill with groceries. I said hello and the man greeted me and handed me one of the pieces of paper, explaining that they were collecting donations for the local food pantry.  On the paper was a simple list of food items: peanut butter, noodles, pasta sauce, canned fruits and vegetables.  It also included a short story about the boy and his ... Read Full Story >>

14.3K Reads

Top 10 Stories of 2012 - Story #5 - 3 Years Later, A Smile Card Seed Sprouts

"Three years! I've had this card in my wallet for three years!" He sounded both elated and relieved. Backtrack a few moments. *The setup*   I'm flagged down while walking by a table in a restaurant where I serve. I hadn't been serving this table, but they wanted something with me anyway, so I went over. A young couple sat at the table, looking at me with intention.   "Are you serving those two women in the other room?" they said, gesturing to one of my tables. I confirmed, yes. "Well, we'd like to pay for their bill, anonymously," they offered tentatively. "Can you do that for us?"   Can I?! It'd be an honor. I told them so, and we worked out the details. The table to be tagged hadn't gotten to dessert yet so they even added on a slice of cake, and I offered to partner in the tag and cover anything else they ordered.   The ... Read Full Story >>

9378 Reads

Top 10 Stories of 2012 - Story # 6 Learning Kindness From My Father

When I was 12 years old, I went with my dad to his work - a car showroom.  I was wondering around and I saw a poor woman with a child in her lap standing outside the showroom.  I saw that she was crying a lot and went inside and told my father.  My father went out and asked the woman to come in to the showroom.  He offered her some water and then asked her what was wrong?   The woman said that her husband had died some months ago and that she doesn’t have anyone else in her family who can help her.  She does some manual labor to earn some money to take care of her daughter but she was sick for the last three days and was unable to go to work.  Now she doesn’t have a grain of food to eat.  While she was relating this ... Read Full Story >>

10.3K Reads