Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Unexpected Gift

My nephews Nived, 8, and Krishiv, 5, were getting ready for their new karate class. Their mom asked me to drop them off. As we were leaving, we found a kitten squatting outside the door. Since we are not typically friendly with creatures in my part of the world, the cats usually run away when they sense human presence. But this one stayed put when she suddenly found us a couple of steps away. We felt she might be afraid, or she might be in need of some care. With my nudge, Nived picked up the kitten. We are usually quite afraid about contacting animals, but this time he brought her in. We arranged a little bit of milk, and she drank as we took turns stroking her back. When we had to leave for the karate class, she followed us out the door. Two street dogs showed up and we could physically ... Read Full Story >>

485 Reads

A Smile for Our Dentist

We love our dentist. She bends over backward to accommodate her patients. She comes in early and stays late if you have an urgent need.

She does what is needed without looking to make extra money for “add-ons.” She is a wonderful person, warm, friendly, very thorough, kind, and caring. She wears a beautiful smile, too. We ordered this mug to surprise her.

 

243 Reads

Angel Delivers a Salad

It was our first day back to school with kids.  My colleague, a reading specialist named Barbara, asked how I was feeling:

Me: Hanging in there, a little tired.
Barbara: It's a lot. What do you have for lunch today?
Me: A sandwich.
Barbara: What do you like? I'll bring you something tomorrow. Do you like salad?
Me: (thinking) Wait a minute. What? She's going to get me a salad tomorrow?
Me: Sure.
Barbara: What kind do you like?
Me: I like Asian chicken salad.
Barbara: I have an extra Asian chicken salad. Let me get it.
(She disappears into her room and produces this beauty for me.)
Barbara: Here you go.
Me: "Thank you." (thinking) How did she do that? It seemed like she was Santa Claus just pulling out of her bag whatever I asked for.

279 Reads

Heartfelt Card Making

A friend of mine passed away, and I was in need of cards for his wife.  It took me a while, but I found some beautiful cards produced by a local artist. However, she didn't have exactly what I wanted.  She went out of her way to find something suitable for me, and she went to special efforts to get to the post office the very next morning.
 
My first card to my friend's wife is seriously delayed, particularly as it now needs to travel to the other side of the world, but I hope it will remind her that people are still thinking of her.
 
I've just posted a review on the card maker's Facebook page to give credit where it is due. She was nice to tweak her designs for me so quickly.

224 Reads

Medical Assistance for Student Living Alone

I gave help to an ill student. He lives alone in a rented room, and his parents live in another city. A few days ago, he was suffering from some serious disease in his teeth. He was not able to eat anything and also faced problems speaking. No one was with him to take care of him.

He messaged me and asked for help. I visited his room and took him to the hospital and provided him with proper treatment. After taking some medicines and getting some proper care, he is feeling good and relaxed. I also talked to his parents on the phone and told them don’t worry, he is good, and I am taking care of him. They offered thanks.

215 Reads

Unexplainable Gift At My Door

There was a time I had to count every single penny I spent. I had to keep a tally in my head while shopping. I would stand there and add things up over and over and over. There was this time during the holidays when I was shopping at Trader Joe’s because way back then they had the most gluten-free food and I had a toddler newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I stood in the frozen food aisle adding everything up. The total was too high. I couldn’t buy everything. I didn’t want my card declined. I looked through everything trying to figure out what to put back. I kept everything everyone else would have loved, but put back the one thing I loved. It was a simple frozen package of chicken tamales. But that package was what put the total over budget. I hated the feeling of not being able to ... Read Full Story >>

1405 Reads

Home Stay for Family of Ill Child

A small child is in the hospital for a problem with damage in his stomach. My roommate invited that child's family to stay in our flat, and he asked me to use another room in our home.

I agreed to their stay, and my roommate thanked me.

334 Reads

Sharing Shears

A carpenter was working on my neighbor’s property. I was working on my front lawn, so we spoke briefly. Later, as he saw me trying to use my shears to cut some bits here and there, he noticed they were not sharp enough.

He went to his van and came back with his own shears and some other tools. He said he'd noticed mine weren’t sharp, and he'd be happy for me to use his while he was next door. How kind is that? I left a few kindness cards and sweet treats in one of his open tool boxes when he wasn’t looking.

380 Reads

The Winter Coat

In a family practice office where I was a nurse, we had a young patient who lived mostly with her grandfather because she had been taken away from her mom by the court more than once.


She was very poor and never seemed to have the clothing she needed. At Christmas time, I bought her a warm winter coat. I gift-wrapped it, and mailed it to her without a name or return address. I often wondered about her reaction upon receiving it.

361 Reads

Pulling Together For Subsidy Help

In this country any financial help you get towards education is based on the scale of 'family allowance' you qualify for. As the kids have barely been at school in person this year I didn't bother applying for subsidies this school year. So yesterday, when I got an email from the school talking about issuing computer equipment to the kids I was woefully unprepared with any of the paper work. My son is at home just now so sprung into action for me as I was working all day. He spent ages speaking to various people at the school to find out exactly what paperwork I needed, which was a specific piece of paper issued by social security. He phoned the lady in the local office, who thankfully is a parent at the school and recognized my difficulties. She issued the paper without my being there in person, and my son's mother-in-law collected ... Read Full Story >>

509 Reads

Thank You, Dad

There is a metal Japanese container/vase I inherited from my father that he had on his window sill. He had dried cotton plants in it. I have it under our patio on a little table and yesterday I was sitting by it and heard a tremendous little hum. There were two hummingbirds coming and going, taking little bits of the cotton from the dried plants. My father would be so pleased, as he loved birds dearly. I like to think he was with me during this episode, seeing how his vase and plants are helping his bird friends. Or maybe he was part of the hummers. Perhaps he directed me to put it there for them. I don't know but I love that they are using his old plant decoration. Not long before he died, my dad was luring birds into his assisted living room by laying trails of birdseed on the ... Read Full Story >>

360 Reads

Loving the Hurt Child Within

Recently I have been feeling out of balance. I am exhausted from the increasing loads of work, and saddened and annoyed at the reactions or sometimes indifference from some people when I have been nice to them. I realize, however, that many people are just focused on our individual needs, and are becoming increasingly tense during this long lockdown. I am aware that the tension rears its ugly head to hurt me occasionally. That is just the way life is. These last few days I have been drawn to snippets of wisdom like "Give with a pure heart and expect nothing in return,” "Honor who you are," "Love yourself," or "Love the hurt child within." It seems the universe wants me to focus on these lessons, so I have been.   I have had much fun recently enjoying the simple things in life: building a snowman; making snow angels for the very first ... Read Full Story >>

390 Reads

Cares And Cheers!

Hello, my kind friends!  I hope you are well and having a wonderful week! This year has really started off very busy--a very good thing for me. Keeps me out of trouble! : ). I wanted to share my latest project.  My husband's aunt has dementia and is in a nearby nursing facility. We have not been able to see her in-person due to COVID visitor restrictions. I thought maybe a care package would be a nice way to brighten her day. As I was coming up with ideas for the package, I thought why not do something special for all the residents and staff. Hand-written cards for residents (16 women/2 men--girl power!) tucked in handled organizer baskets containing recommended items such as stuffed animals, lotion, chapstick, toothbrushes/toothpaste, sandwich cookies packs, and a little silk Gerber daisy flower arrangement (an extra little box of chocolates just for "my girl"---she is family after all ... Read Full Story >>

366 Reads

Three Men in a Convenience Store

How much love is latent in a few bananas, saltines and a few bottles of Gatorade? Bear Necessities Grill & C-Store is a convenience store for students at Cornell University. Seth, George, and Harry are men who work there. I have not met them. I have only spoken to them on the phone. What I found these guys carry in their store is immense amounts of beauty, warmth and kindness to strangers. It will stay with me for the rest of my life. It floods me with Awe at the tapestry of life where someone takes the time to listen, notice, share, and make choices. My freshman son was in his dorm room feeling very weak and unwell. He had no energy to go down to the dining hall because he had been up the night before due to food poisoning. His roommate hadn’t yet arrived. I googled and found the convenience store, Bear Necessities Grill ... Read Full Story >>

1079 Reads
  • Posted by shaila_menezes
  • Mar 12, 2021
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Van Salvage

An old minibus is rotting in my driveway. It has not been driven for years, but I've not got around to scrapping it.

I saw a post on Facebook the other day about some challenged because they have an inspection approaching. Their supply of parts from the UK was caught up in the Brexit/customs fiasco. (This van model isn't produced here in Portugal.)

I am invited her to come over.  We were able to find some compatible parts to fix her van.




 

225 Reads

Skiing for Inner Calm

One day something happened that upset me, bringing tears to my eyes and making me angry. The incident took me out of balance and disturbed my inner peace. To restore calm, I donned my outdoor gear, grabbed my skis, and went to the park. I skied at a slow steady pace. I listened to the hissing of the snow beneath my skis and the wind blowing through the bare branches of the trees. I was honest with myself, acknowledging that I was angry and could let it go. With each pass around the park, I felt my inner peace returning. I began to hear the birds singing. I noticed the wind had filled in my tracks with snow in some areas, creating a clean slate. I felt the strength of my arms and legs as they worked together to make the skiing an enjoyable experience. I felt the healing power of being ... Read Full Story >>

330 Reads

Covid Vaccine Kindness

So much kindness accompanied my first dose of the Covid vaccine today. Our neighbor drove me to the pharmacy and walked in with me in. She made me feel so cared for. She waited for me and drove me home.
 
The staff were extremely nice and very friendly. Everything was well organized, timely, not at all crowded, and spotlessly clean. The injection was totally painless. I gave them a Kindspring member’s peace doves in thanks, and they were appreciative.
 
I had butterflies in my tummy all morning, nervously waiting until 2 PM for the appointment. I felt almost euphoric by the time we arrived home. It was a relief to get vaccinated!  I am grateful for the generous caring of our neighbor and for the friendly professional staff at the pharmacy.





 

230 Reads

Peppermint Stress Release

My family went out to eat to celebrate my brother's new job. I noticed our server was very overwhelmed. She kept forgetting to bring things to the tables she was serving. We reassured her it was OK when she forgot to bring my son’s cheese sticks and my brother's applesauce.  She told us they were training two new cooks and it was kind of intense in the kitchen. She was trying to help out everywhere.

To signal our acceptance, I left a larger tip than usual along with a wrapped peppermint. What really touched my heart was when my son added his own money to put towards the tip.

 Our server, Carrie, heard me say, “Keep the change.”  Then she saw the mint and immediately I saw a change in her demeanor. “Aww, thank you. That was very nice of you,” she said.  She slowed down to breathe, and it seemed like she released some stress.






 

218 Reads

Kindness Boomerangs from Small Businesses

Small businesses seem to be having it rough during this pandemic, even the ones allowed to open their doors to the public. A few days ago, we had the brainwave of asking our local special restaurant to deliver dinner after lamenting that we can't eat out any more these days. I could hear the gratefulness in the owner's voice on the telephone when I ordered. I was touched we were given a complimentary bottle of wine by the delivery person, who might actually have been the owner. I told her she was the highlight of our day.   Yesterday I bought two things in a shop, including truffles, a nice treat. The lady at the cash desk was kind like the restaurant owner. While we chatted, she nearly forgot the truffles. I reminded her. She suddenly produced a different box of truffles from under the counter, and said, "What the heck, these are on me!" ... Read Full Story >>

343 Reads

Helping The Ocean

My kindness act today was not for a person but for our precious environment. When I took my dog to the beach today I brought along a  garbage bag.

As we walked the shoreline, I slowly filled the bag with plastic, cans, juice boxes, etc. I thought about the pollution of the oceans, the photos of birds with garbage in their stomachs and decided to make this small act a practice.

I walk the beach twice a week so just maybe this will make a difference.

227 Reads




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