Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Kind Word

I have found that spreading kindness isn't always about what you do for someone else but can also be what you say.  I was standing in line at the gas station waiting to pay the cashier.  There were 4 other people ahead of me and none had a smile on their face and all looked to be in a hurry.  After the winter we've had, we were having a beautiful, nice day.  I spoke up and said "I don't know which one of you ordered this fantastic day for us but I want to say I really appreciate it and thank you."   There were smiles all around and everyone started talking to each other.  As each person left, they would turn around and tell everyone to have a wonderful day and they all had smiles on their faces when they left.  I like to think that what I said made a difference in the day each of them had.  I know it did in mine.   

The Smile Project

In celebration of Random Acts of Kindness week, I started a project with my preschool class.  I made a smiley face recognition certificate called it a Smile O Gram.  I made copies of it for each of my 17 preschoolers.  I decorated regular business size envelopes with smiley face stickers and wrote on the front : A Smile especially for You!  The parents were to talk with their preschooler about who they wanted to send a Smile Gram to.   I talked with our local flower shop about the possibility of getting smiley face latex balloons.  Unfortunately the flu bug has hit our community and a lot of children have been gone from school so as of today we've only gotten 9 of them delivered.  We still plan on sending out another 10. Inside the envelope, in addition to the SMILE Gram was a smile card and a paper that said "Tag, You're ... Read Full Story >>

Pocket Money in Tanzania

I was doing a year of voluntary service in a residential home for people with learning disabilities. It was set in an English village, deep in the countryside, quite different from my home in Sweden. One of my fellow volunteers, a girl from from Tanzania, seemed a bit desperate, so I asked what the problem was. She told me she had a friend back home who was really struggling with her university studies. It was beginning to look like finacial difficulties would make it impossible for her to complete her course.   So this friend of mine had done something incredible: she had sent all her pocket money for the month to Tanzania to support her friend! This meant that she didn't have much food to eat, no money to go anywhere outside the village, no money to buy any clothes, and so on.    We lived in our workplace so not being able to ... Read Full Story >>

Postcards From Half Way Around The World

  A new Facebook friend referred to the time before his family went through an emotional earthquake. I asked what he meant and it turned out his son had left home and, almost straight away, ended up in jail!   Well, I know what that's like. So, I asked if I could send his son something. He said a postcard would be good.   Now I live in Scotland and this young man is incarcerated in California. So, I thought if I sent him some postcards with Scottish scenes on them they might brighten his cell wall.   One of them was a montage of Scottish castles. On the back I wrote that his dad loved him very much and was looking forward to better days ahead.   The other was a picture of the sun setting behind an island. Now you can see that island from the town where I bought the postcards. So, I paid a visit ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness in a Moment of Need

  One evening, as I was about to go to sleep, my brother phoned to tell me they had taken my father to the hospital! He had been vomitting and had recently lost a lot of weight.   (We had recently discovered he was diabetic which was why he had been losing weight.)   He asked me if I could send them money for Dad's medicine. I told him maybe I could send some in the morning.    During that long night I wasn't able to sleep. I kept on wondering what I could do since it was still a long time until payday and I didn't have money to send. I just cried through the night, then I bowed my head and prayed, "Lord, I know you have a better plan for us. Without You Lord I am nothing and through You nothing is impossble. Amen!"   The next morning I went in to work early. I bumped ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness Through the Generations

Many years ago when I was employed, I joined my mother in donating some money to build small houses for six poor families. After their houses were completed, with gratitude in their hearts, we were invited for their house warming ceremonies.  They had lovely homes to live in.  We felt very light and satisfied after seeing them with roofs over their heads.  Several years passed by, my parents had passed away and I lhad eft my work to lead a retired life. Some time later, I took a meditation retreat trip to Thailand. In these meditation centers, the foreign mediators are given accommodation in seperate areas, where either two women or two men share a single room with a common bath and toilet or a single room with an attached bath and toilet. The local meditators stay in large halls. The time of the year was such that the meditation center was completely full. Therefore, ... Read Full Story >>

Practicing a Little Patience

I work at night in a department store. Yesterday I had a customer come to my register to order socks from our catalog. It seemed pretty clear and easy to me, but she was struggling to figure out how many 3packs she needed to order. She apologized for being so confused and told me she had a head trauma and it was taking time for her to think.

I told her not to worry and we would figure it out together. She pulled out paper and wrote down 3 and then put numbers in groups....it was really something how she worked hard to figure out 3 x 4 = 12.  That she needed 12 pairs, which was 4 packs...which I could have just told her, but I could see she needed to figure it out and feel good about it.  

In  the meantime, her husband showed up and she lost her train of thought. It took about 10 minutes to place her order, but she left feeling really good about herself and her husband thanked me profusely.

Sometimes it's hard to show patience, but it really pays off.

Spending My Week Helping Others!

I have just got back from a two week university holiday break. Throughout the holidays I had an enjoyable time helping some family friends with their garden and house: weeding, mulching, stacking wood, washing all the windows, vacuuming and cleaning. It was hard work but very enjoyable and so rewarding! Then a friend asked me if I would like a very pretty Tahitian outfit. I did like it but I thought it might be more useful if I paid-it-forward. So I gave it to a university Tahitian club who wear these outfits when performing.  When I got back to univeristy on Sunday after the holiday break, as usual, I felt in a creative mood. So I organized a fun treasure hunt through my flat. It brought lots of smiles to lots of faces.   Tomorrow I’m volunteering to help the staff at the university Tahitian stall. This is part of an event held to connect different cultures ... Read Full Story >>

Weekly Groceries With An Extra Portion of Kindness

I did my monthly shopping today.  I went in to a cool room to buy my meat where they sometimes have specials on.  I picked up as much as I thought I could afford.  We have been going through tough times lately and I had saved up $60 for meat.   When the checkout lady rang it all up, the total came to $71.85.

I begun to explain that I would need to put some of the meat back.  She stopped me from reaching into the pile and told me not to worry about the extra amount.  I had taken out the dog bones but she put them back in to some carry bags and just wished me a good day...WOW!

I was so happy and moved by this gesture.  I thanked her before I left. I wish I had had a smile card to give to her.  As soon as I get some more, I will definitely head over and hand her one or two cards with a big thank you smile on my face.  The extra meat will definitely be welcomed. 

Running To The Record Shop

Many years ago I was on vacation in Tilehurst, a beautiful little village in Reading, in the U.K.  I was with my sister and her family and it was my first trip to the West. Having been born and brought up in the East I had to  get used to the English accent which sounded quite diferent to 'our' way of speaking.   I enjoyed walking in and around Tilehurst. It was a typical English village; elderly ladies walking out with lovely hats, their husband with their walking sticks, reminding me of the English films we had watched as kids back home.   In Tilehurst the main mode of public transport was a single little "Shuttle" bus which ran from Tilehurst to Reading. There was no need for more as every family owned either one or two vehicles. Being October the Autumn weather was lovely and comortable which encouraged me to go out. I would ... Read Full Story >>

Sweet Love

I normally get 4 of my grandaughters on Saturdays and they spend the night to go to church with me. The plan was for them to finish their Valentine's Day cards up for the special ones in church. Of course, everyone is special, but they can only make so many. We were to make and bake some heart shaped cookies and spread the love but due to circumstances the girls arrived late. I had already decided to go ahead and bake the cookies. They came into a home filed with the smell of homemade cookies which was a plus. Next morning I gave each girl a wrapped plate of cookies to take into their Sunday School room and share with others. There were some left-overs because there were so many. After church service I allowed them to share the remaining cookies with whomever would like one. The girls smiled as they asked the church family if they would like one. They recieved so many compliments and smiles and hugs! It was so awesome to watch them. Alot of love was passed around in that small gesture....Happy Valentine's Day everybody !!! 

Catching the Bus

The other day, I was picking my daughter up from school. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a man in a hoody talking with my daughter's schoolmate.  

I could see she was uneasy so I rolled my window and called out to the man asking "May I help you?"  He headed my way and I motioned for Rachel to get into her car.

The man came to my window and I could see the distress in his face.  He said he wanted to take a bus to a town about 45 minutes away. He only had $4 to his name and there was a half way house that he wanted to get to before it got dark. The bus trip ticket was $12.

I could see a certain kindness in his and wanted to help.  I looked in my wallet and all I had was a $20. I gave it to him and he said God Bless and started running toward to bus station.

I hope he used it to get the ticket, I will never know. But it felt good knowing i was trying to help him out.

Stamping Dollars

For years now, I have stamping-with ink and a craft stamp-the back of my paper money. Some of my previous stamps have said-"Wishing you flights of angels", "Pray for Peace" and now it is "Make Peace Not War". For many years I have been afraid the FBI would knock on my door and take me away to Federal Prsion for defacing money. (Yes, I would be the one they would set an example of.) Finally, I looked into it and found that I was not defacing money. Whew, what a relief! To this date, I have received one bill back as change. A co-worker whom I gave change to bought her lunch from a fast food place. I went to that same place perhaps 1/2 hour later and got that dollar back. It was a bit freaky-yet cool. It brings a smile to my face when a cashier notices and I hope it brightens the day of a person who received it.

Helping out with a Cell Phone

Wanted to share a small act of kindness that made my day! 

I found a cute green SPRINT cell phone at school. I went to all the classrooms asking if it belonged to any of the students, but nobody claimed it.

I put it in my pocketbook and decided that when I saw a SPRINT store, I would turn it in to them and they could find the owner!...Me and my friend were at the Mall together and sure enough, there was a Sprint Store!

So I turned in the lost cell phone. I'm sure the phone is with it's owner again now :0)

Keep Smiling...it's Contagious you know!

The Power of a Simple Comment

Have you ever thought that the simple act of writing a comment on a story can be an act of kindness? Or sending some karmabucks out of the blue? Or sending an uplifting message to another member? I have been blessed with all of those and I can't tell you the number of times I have been blessed with messages from other members that reached me when I needed them most. There have been days that  I wake up in the morning a little bit sad then I find that someone left me a note wishing me a good day, or someone kindly commented  on a story I wrote a long time ago, or someone just gave me some karmabucks out of the blue, I can even tell you that once I was feeling very low and I had been away from the site for some time, and I received a beautiful message saying how ... Read Full Story >>

Gratitude for our Caregiver

About 2 months ago I realized how often my mother's caregiver would do kind things for me.  Not just little things ~ BIG things, like picking oranges and juicing them, making my bed for me when my muscles are so tight I can't bend over easily, raking the leaves and weeding the front yard......... those kinds of things.  I ALWAYS thank her, and she says she enjoys it.  But I decided, since she is paid a set wage by the agency we went through, and has a large family to raise, I would put a dollar in a decorative box every time I see one of those kinds of things that she has done for me.  I have already changed out 20 single dollar bills for a $20 bill TWICE and have probably somewhere in the vicinity of $70 in there.  That's my own "thank you for your many kindnesses" box, and ... Read Full Story >>

The Missing Cheese Bun Feeds Two Souls

Any passenger on the subway who caught a glimpse of me may have already thought that I was strange as I was smiling while reading Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground. In particular this one gentleman sitting diagonal from me was staring at me, at the cheese bun on the floor in front of me, and then back at me. “Next stop, St. Patrick Station” – my stop was quickly coming up.  I had minutes to either take the cheese bun, which nobody else was claiming (as a passenger probably dropped it by mistake and got off at a previous stop), or leave it there and hope that it didn’t go to waste. In those few minutes I felt my pride getting in the way. “What would other people on this subway think of me if I took the cheese bun? Would they think that I wanted it for myself? Would they think ... Read Full Story >>

An Unexpected Gift at the Restaurant

The other night, me, my husband, and his girlfriend took our oldest son out for a steak dinner for his 21st birthday. The restaurant was crowded so we gave our name and they were to call us when a table was ready.  

While we were waiting, my husband saw a representative from a company that supplies product for the company where he works.   He went over to chat and say hello. Once we were seated, we looked over and the representative and his wife were seated just behind us.  In the course of our conversation, it casually came up that it was our son's birthday.  

After our meal, the waitress came over and told us that the representative had paid for all our meals! We were so surprised!  

I've often read on help others about such grand gestures by strangers.  I had been a recipient many years ago when my brother had paid for our meal when he knew I was going through some employment difficulty, but I've recieved something like this from someone I didn't even know.  

This coming week we will be seeing this representative at a company dinner and will be sure to thank him in person!  

Small Acts of Politeness And Manners

Just a simple small act that made my day!

I was in Walmart the other day and the isles were really busy with shoppers.   I was looking at purses (a tough decision :-)) in a small isle and a man came with his cart.  Since the isle was so packed with shoppers, he started to back up and was going to go all the way around to get to the socks which were just ahead of me.

I stopped him and said "Sir, would you like to come down this isle?" and he said "I just need socks". I said "Please come on down, don't go around, there is room for us all!" He thanked me and said "Ya know, most people act like they don't even see you." and he thanked me and smiled.

It was such a small guesture, but it made us both feel good!  Anyone can be gracious and have manners!

Renewed

My parents home is now painted and the carpets are cleaned.!  I am so happy that I pushed myself through the barriers...and that now it is finally done....I am happy inside.  

I know that the home now projects true love, cleanliness describing proud prevoius owners with a happy presence ad I am renewed.  The home will bring happiness to the people who buy it.  I now feel that in my heart.  I now stand proud!!!

Happy smiley days.  Lets project them all around for the world to see.  All our differences will eventually come together if we just remember to SMILE and be kind to one another.