Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Happy Memory to Lift You Up

I hear some actors keep a sad thought or memory tucked away to help them with scenes where they might need to cry. I think we should each try to find the opposite; a happy memory, something to lift us up on those inevitable down days.  I’m saying this because I think I just found mine! I had some work in Glasgow today. I was on a really tight schedule, which meant I would have no time for myself (or my own work) all day. I was having one of those days, the train was completely packed out and the conversation going on around me seemed to be particularly inane. On top of all that, I had a bit of a headache. Walking briskly across the concourse, I fished some change from my pocket. There was usually someone at the exit selling The Big Issue (a magazine that helps homeless folk earn ... Read Full Story >>

Invisible Smiles In an Empty Flower Vase

About a dozen college kids gathered around me after a talk on the 'spirit of service'. The theme of the talk was small acts of selflessness; they will not only make someone smile but also shift your entire perspective on life. That instead of obliging the receiver with your act of service, it is actually your privilege to get an opportunity to be kind. For some, these are common sense ideas but college students generally don't think about these things. When you're in college, you're more worried about YOUR grades, YOUR job interviews, paying off YOUR loans, meeting YOUR significant other and so on. In our commercialized, image-driven world, it's only natural to take care of your things before you serve others. So here I am -- a dozen folks asking me how to 'Be The Change', a stack of smile cards in my left hand and a commemorative bouquet of flowers ... Read Full Story >>

A Small Gesture Can Mean So Much

Many years ago, I was walking around Palma and for once, I decided to take a short cut down some 60 old, steep stone steps. On my way down, I came across an elderly lady who was clearly struggling to get down the steps, she had very swollen and painful looking legs, plus her shopping bag. As I walked past, I thought to myself, if that was me, what would I hope for?  So I told my boyfriend of the time to hold on.  I asked the lady if she needed any help and she gratefully accepted.  I handed the shopping bag to my boyfriend and took hold of the lady's arm.  Throughout the 10 or so minutes it took to slowly get down the steps, this lady told me how she was on her way to the hospital for a check up on her legs due to a painful condition she had.  ... Read Full Story >>

A Dinner Invitation Turns into a Great Friendship

I travel a lot for work and sometimes I end up staying behind to clean up the loose ends while my project team heads back home. We were in Boston meeting with a vendor and we wrapped up early, everyone was able to catch flights home, except me.  So I stuck it out and decided to go to dinner. Because I was not very familiar with where I was in Boston, I hired a driver to pick me up. I am a very outgoing person and love to meet new people and engage in conversation.  My driver asked for my destination. I responded by asking him to pick the restaurant he would like to go to for dinner.  We ended up at a local seafood place.  I invited him to join me for dinner; I hate eating alone and could not stand knowing he was sitting in the car in the parking ... Read Full Story >>

A "Food For Thought" Jar

When I worked in a busy office, most of my co-workers kept jars of candy on their desks to enjoy and share with others.  Constantly battling the "bulge," I hated these temptations, but neverthless often gave in to them.  I decided to put out a jar of my own "feel good" stuff, with no calories. I bought a beautiful jar and spent one whole weekend at home cutting up colorful strips of paper and writing down inspiring quotes.  I filled up the jar with the inspiring quotes and placed it on my desk for people to help themselves to.  It took a while to catch on, but soon, everyone was stopping by my "food for thought" jar daily to fill up on something much better than empty calories.  They would take one out, read it, smile knowingly, and then fold it up and replace it for the next co-worker.  It's something that never needed ... Read Full Story >>

Helping An Old Lady Forget Her Crash, With Flowers

 An elderly lady's foot slipped while driving and wiped out two posts, managing to write off her car.

Seeing that she was a little shaken while I was in the picture shop next to the accident, I went and bought her a bunch of flowers.  I said to her, "I thought you would rather remember the day because a tall, dark stranger bought you flowers, instead of crashing your car."

With that I walked out smiling...

The Crocodile Whisperer

Whether a person likes animals, reptiles or not, this really is amazing, just goes to show what some human kindness can achieve.   Rather than trying to tame wild stallions, fearless Costa Rican fisherman Chito prefers a playful wrestle in the water with his best pal Pocho -- a deadly 17ft crocodile. The 52-year-old daredevil draws gasps of amazement from onlookers by wading chest-deep into the water, then whistling for his 980lb buddy -- and giving him an affectionate hug. Crazy Chito says: "Pocho is my best friend. This is a very dangerous routine but we have a good relationship. He will look me in the eye and not attack me.  "It is too dangerous for anyone else to come in the water. It is only ever the two of us." Chito made friends with the crocodile after finding him with a gunshot wound on the banks of the Central American state's Parismina ... Read Full Story >>

Helping Someone Find Work

     I was at a party with my friend and someone introduced himself to me and said we used to go to school together.  To be honest, I did not  have a clue who he was.      While we were chatting he told me that he was looking for  work and if I heard of anything I should let  him know. I forgot about him and went on with my life. After two weeks, I got a call from  him asking if I'd heard anything and I immediately remembered seeing a  job vacancy  sign somewhere and gave him directions to go and check the place out and maybe he would be lucky.     I didn't  hear from the guy for a month or so until one day I got a call from him asking me where I was staying as he wanted to buy me something to thank me. I told ... Read Full Story >>

Finding The Courage To Wipe The Windows

Here I was, as any other morning, in front of the bread store.  Today, the door was opened. Outside it was cold enough.  I stepped inside and I saw some pieces of cloth on the stairs. The door's window was wet - at a closer look I saw it was sprayed with window cleaning liquid. I stopped. I saw there were two other ladies in the store, waiting to be served.  I looked again at the few pieces of cloth, hanging there, exactly in front of me. I thought about Help Others stories. Suddenly I felt I had the courage to pick one up and wipe the window. "Don't worry about it" I heard. "I'll do it later. There is plenty of time" and she laughed, blushing all over.  I realized I didn't do it for her. Some force inside pushed me to do it just to show me that I can humble myself, ... Read Full Story >>

Virtue Is The Only Shelter We Have In This World

The first thing I noticed about him was his intensity.  When other people got up to take a break, he sat with such a sincere, unassumingly deep focus that I was immediately impressed. The next time I noticed him was few days later.  He happened to be in front of me as we walked down to the dining hall, and I caught a glimpse of his sweatshirt.  The cuff of his sleeve was tattered and dirty, with a small hole in it.  I instantly knew that he had no money, and that his intense search for truth had rendered a simplicity and faith that made the lack of funds not as worrisome as it would be for the rest of us.  Still, I thought that if there was ever anyone to help, it would be someone of this type of intensity, where the his answers might reap dividends to help many ... Read Full Story >>

Goodness That Put My Mind At Ease

I was on my way home today when I ran into a horrible traffic mess that was going to delay me terribly in getting my son from school. He had his trombone today for music class, and so could not bike as he usually does, and I told him I would pick him up. It took forever even to pull off the road and get someplace where I could try to make a call. I do not have a cell phone, and was counting on being able to use a pay phone from a gas station. Well, there was no pay phone there and one guy who I thought I could ask to borrow his phone kept on getting calls.  I went across to a public transport station and found a guy waiting for the bus.  I told him my situation and he very kindly offered his phone.  I called the school, made ... Read Full Story >>

Freeing a Trolley for an Elderly Woman

       Walking through town yesterday I spotted an elderly woman having a spot of bother. She was trying to release a supermarket trolley from the trolley park and not managing.  You need to slip a pound coin into the release slot and this disengages a little length of chain enabling you to use the trolley. But, try as she might, this lady couldn't loosen that chain.     "You all right?" I asked. "Yes, thanks," she smiled back. But I didn't take the hint. I stood a few seconds longer and still that chain wouldn't loosen. "Let me," I said, reaching over. And I pushed her coin just a little further into the mechanism. The chain released and that was that.      "Oh, thank you," she said. "I'm not as strong as I used to be."      And THAT is really what this is about!  I hadn't even noticed the strength it ... Read Full Story >>

Leaving the Door of Compassion Open

Two days ago I was woken up at 1 AM. My roomie stood at the door (she was returning from a club) along with a huge middle aged man with long hair.  "Please let him in", she told me, "He has been locked out of his apartment". She had seen him , cold and shivering (it had snowed the previous night) and immediately asked him to sleep at our place. He was a law student in his fifties who had been doing his homework at the laundromat when he found he had left his keys in his house. I'll be honest, I'm pretty square. I have never had a strange man sleep in my house before. My roommate and I are both less than 5 ft 3 and we have been asked to 'not speak to strangers' since we were kids.Not to mention we're in a new city that we have lived in ... Read Full Story >>

We All Need Someone Who Understands

 A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about Nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he Felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the Eyes of a little boy.  Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."  "Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."  The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer.  And with that he let out a whistle,"Here,Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ... Read Full Story >>

How Far One Small Act of Kindness Can Go

When I first heard about Smile Cards through my pseudo room-mate, I thought it was a brilliantly novel idea - making someone smile and then asking them to do the same for one more person. I tried tagging some people with the cards and only then realised that it is tougher for us by nature to really do something nice. But then once you start, our own expectation rises and what we would have considered nice early on would then become a norm, and thus challenging oneself to go beyond that. I then got the opportunity to ship these Smile Cards to other people like me who wanted to share the smiles. I thought this would be great to do because not only was I 'volunteering' my time, I was also helping make a difference without leaving the confines of my four walls, and so I jumped on the idea. ... Read Full Story >>

What's Making You Smile Today?

I heard this question several months ago and decided to make it my own. The question is,

An Everyday Hero Who Taught Me An Important Lesson

Few days ago, I went to school with tons of books, hoping to get a locker. All of a sudden, it started raining heavily. I hurried to pay for my locker, but I was disappointed when they informed me that they only accepted cash. I was $7.00 short, which meant I had to carry the books back home. It would be an exhausting two-hour journey back home with all those books. There was an elderly gentleman nearby. Noticing my predicament, he asked me how much cash I needed. When I told him I was $7 short, he quickly took out the money from his wallet. “You don’t have to pay me back,” he said. I was speechless; I didn’t know whether to take the money or come back with the books the next day. A young student who was working ... Read Full Story >>

Sharing A Little Love With Someone Who Needs It

I wrote my first Christmas card on Sunday 28th September!

Believe me, it's not like me. I usually put these things off to the last minute. But, after church on Sunday, one of the ladies from the Mothers' Union handed around some cards that they were planning to send to inmates of the nearest prison.

She asked that we each put a personal message inside - but what do you write to someone when the only thing you know about them is that they have committed a crime?

Oh, it was hard! I tapped the pen on the table for a long time searching for inspiration. In the end I had to look past the prison walls and the crime to the heart of the man.

I wrote, "Each day brings the promise of a new life. Have a Merry Christmas and a better New Year. Love. David."

It wasn't exactly inspired, but new life is what Christmas is all about and each day we have a fresh chance to make a new beginning.

I can't take credit for the idea, but wouldn't it be wonderful if we each reached out this year and shared a little love with someone who needs it?

The Most Heartfelt Hug

Something so cool happened to my hubby and I on Friday!
We were leaving the post office and I handed this random guy a card we had made which says: "This Card Is To Certify That I Am Loved By The Members Of A FiveOh4 Uplifting!"

The guy says thank you with a huge smile and walks away.  As we approach our car the guy walks up to me and says, "I have to do this!" and gives me one of the most heartfelt hugs I've had in a very long time!

That hug was SO worth it!

Stopping Traffic with the Help of a Smile

My house is located on a very busy road.  There are frequently huge trailers whizzing by at high speeds, and it is virtually impossible to get across the street to the nearby hospital.

One evening, when I was coming out of the house with my 6 year old cousin, I saw a drunkard by the house, talking to himself.  I smiled at him and then proceeded to stand by the curb, waiting for an opportunity to cross the street.  This man then came over to us and started showering us with blessings for a long life and good fortune, all simply because I gave him a smile.

After wishing such kindness on us, he actually stopped the traffic on the road and helped us to get across the road without any difficulty.  As we parted, he simply smiled and waved at us as he plodded away.

Moral of the Story:  Never underestimate the power of a smile.