Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Compassion is the Best Medicine

I had to go for my yearly mammogram today... I'm always a bit anxious about this since my grandmother died of breast cancer and my mom has had it too (although she's fine).  I went last year for the first time and it  was a very unpleasant experience, not helped by the technician who attended to me, so I was pretty much dreading it today.    To my great relief and joy, the woman technician who worked with me today was an absolute ANGEL....her compassion and excellence at her job just made SUCH a difference in my experience.  She was so professional and courteous.  When she finished, I told her "You are SOOOO good at your job, I just want to thank you for making this so easy for me".  She smiled at me and suddenlty, I broke down crying telling her about my family and my previous horrible experience.  She listened and then gave me a big hug.  She ... Read Full Story >>

The Spirit of Kindness

I wanted to share some of my reflections on kindness..... Acts of kindness are a wonderful way to reach across time and space to touch the life of another being and they undoubtedly make the world a better place. At every step along the path of expanding our awareness there is the opportunity to go deeper; to explore more of the potential of our divine humanness. So it is with kindness. Acts of kindness are really not difficult. An intention is formed, and you carry it out. It makes you feel good. Holding kindness and compassion in our hearts, and integrating them into the complexity and stresses of daily life, every day -- now there is a deep challenge! Parents can learn to discipline kindly, remaining firm, yet doing so with love and warmth. Teachers can learn to remain patient and forgiving, no matter how frustrated they might feel with a particular student. ... Read Full Story >>

Spreading Cheer With Little Gifts

I have bought a few little gifts from ebay, like tiny fridge magnets, friendship bracelets and dried lavender to make potpourri and have stored them away in a big 'gift' bag. 

I've also got some envelopes, cards, glue and I've made some smiley faces. 

When I read about someone who is lonely or facing illness or is need of a little cheer for any other reason, I write a card, stick on the smiley and send them a little gift. 

Some people are so happy when they receive them.  It really does make a difference.

I will have to find one hour a week extra work so I can make up the money.  But it will be worth it, it makes me feel so happy. to spread a little cheer.

A Calm Intervention In A Tense Situation

My family and I were waiting in a long line to checkout at a garden/nursery store today.  All of a sudden an older woman got very loud and huffily started yelling at another older woman for "cutting" in front of her.  The second woman didn't know that we were in one line for two registers and everyone just went to the next open one so she had just stood behind one of the registers. My husband intervened and calmly tried to soothe everyone's feelings by politely explaining to the yelling lady that the other lady simply didn't know, and then he sweetly told the second lady not to worry and explained how the line worked. I stood there silently applauding his tact! Apparently I wasn't the only one....when we got to our car, two separate people came up to him and said "You are very diplomatic, sir..thank you for preventing those two ladies from ... Read Full Story >>

Offering More Than Just Customer Satisfaction

      My husband was a great source of strength to me during our marriage as well as a mentor to me in my job.  During one of the Sunday School lessons that he taught, he made the statement "You may be the only Bible that some people read today."  I lost my husband to lung cancer last Thanksgiving day, but I try to maintain this very valuable lesson.    I work in an inbound call center for one a large telecom company in the world.  Every day I get yelled at, screamed at and called everything but a child of God.  I understand that in these times we are all experiencing tough economic times, so I just let them vent.  I try to maintain my composure and be as polite as possible.  Some days it is harder and harder to do this all the while trying to maintain the standards of my ... Read Full Story >>

Rescuing Dash-9, An Orphaned Dog

I don't know how others will respond to my first story, but I do know that it was something I was compelled to do, regardless if the recipient was "only a dog". I work for the railroad, which can be a very dangerous place.  It is also usually located in the poorest of neighborhoods.  Unfortunately, we often see homeless, hungry animals hanging around looking for scraps of food.  Often, they are large, scary-loooking dogs who end up at the pound. For the last few weeks there has been a rather large, red dog who has been hanging around with an obvious leg injury.  He was scared and would not come near any of us.  Each day I came to work I would talk to him, toss him a bite to eat and go about my business.  After about two weeks of this, this wonderful creature saw me arrive at work one evening ... Read Full Story >>

A Good Deed to Help A Young Man

I was waiting in line to check out my groceries at the store.  There was a young man, maybe in his early 20s, in the line ahead of me.  When his groceries had been rung through, he seemed a bit concerned that the total was higher than he thought it would be.  Actually, as most young people probably forget, it was the dreaded sales tax that made the difference.  The total was not a large amount but it seemed maybe a little more than he had money for.    I told the clerk to add his bill to my tab.  He was totally surprised and said that it was alright and that he would just put something back.  I insisted he take all his items and go and I would pay for them.  I told him it was my day to do a good deed and he should just find a ... Read Full Story >>

Helping a Child Afford Some Juice

When the rain stopped, I felt like an evening walk was the perfect thing to do. I woke up my friend who was on her bed.  She had broken her arm a month ago and was waiting for the cast to be removed. So, I thought a walk would make her feel fresh and would help her.  Our evening walk led us to a fruit juice shop. As I was taking my last sip of tropical mango juice a little boy came in to get some juice, he seemed to be in a hurry.  Maybe the little one did not realize that tinned juice cost a bit more than fresh juice. When he realized that he did not have enough money to buy it, he started to turn to walk back to his dad to get more money. I saw his dad waiting for him on the other side of the ... Read Full Story >>

Finding Any Opportunity To Be Helpful

Today at work I was in the kitchen preparing some food for the 'Birthday Luncheon'.  I had a busy morning running around but once everything was in the oven I had a few spare moments whilst it was baking. I decided to go to the administration office and see if I could help them with anything while I was waiting – I know they had been very busy.   Sure enough, they needed help folding letters and stuffing them into envelopes. I sat down and starting folding away. I was quite amazed at how many letters I had folded and stuffed before the oven timer rang telling me the food was ready.    The ladies were very appreciative  to me for helping them get their boring job done more quickly.  It didn’t feel like a boring job to me, it felt great to help out...every little bit counts!         ... Read Full Story >>

Bobby's Dime

Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already. Try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend." Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage that she was earning could only be ... Read Full Story >>

A Cancer Victim Gives Lessons in Kindness

Life is too short and despite all the different problems people face, they can find happiness in the virtue of kindness. I would like to share an experience related to this. 

One of my close friends was suffering from cancer and was admitted to a hospital in town. It was shocking that he was affected by the killer disease. He was dejected initially, then his attitude was awesome.  He shows kindness to everyone around him. He never gets irritable. He was the one who inspired me to show kindness to all. 

At the ward in the hospital it was a pitiful sight  to see the children and adults suffering from cancer and undergoing treatment. I was dumbstruck at the bond they shared. They were very kind to each other.  

At this sight  my mind was jumping around to understand. Is this Love? Is this called Care?  Finally I could hear a voice from the bottom of my heart which was so true and serene. It told me this was "kindness."   Everyone  is benefited by this "magic" word. Thus, the value of kindness has no bounds.

The Gift of a Thank You

Not long ago, I was out at the mall, buying a gift for one of my younger friends. I stopoped by Claire's to find something for her. As I was glancing at items, I noticed a little girl around 8 or 9 yrs of age walk in, we were both looking at these cute little mini lip gloss boxes that had a picture in the front: one had penguins, dogs, cats, lots of cute pictures. She started thinking out loud, saying: "They're so cute!" I told her pointing at a box, "Did you see this one? It's super cute, too!" She was just delighted! She said to herself in a soft voice, "I wish I had money to get one." I heard her and I couldn't just leave the store, so I asked her, "Which one did you like the most?" She pointed to the pink box with puppies on the cover. I said, "Ok, ... Read Full Story >>

Finding An Opportunity to Help By Being Conscious of Others

On my way home, I had to stop at an auto shop to have something checked out. While pulling into the driveway of the auto shop - I noticed a woman out of the corner of my eye, she had a cell phone in hand and she looked pretty frustrated. I saw her wave at a cab going by but it just drove past. She then walked over into the shop to find out the address of where we were and then went back outside to make another call - I presumed to call a cab. This wasn't an area with a lot of cabs. When I left the shop some time later, she was still on the sidewalk, looking up and down the street, presumably for the cab that she had called. I asked if I could give her a ride somewhere. She looked relieved and told me where she was going. It wasn't on my ... Read Full Story >>

A Circle of Compassion and Consideration

I have recently got into a habit of catching up with my parents while I'm walking to the grocery store to buy my weekly food stuffs.  It takes about 10-12 minutes and I figure its a good time to talk.  The only thing is, I always end the conversation as I arrive at the grocery store.  It always seemed like my parents wanted to keep talking, but I wouldn't have it.  I'd just say "alright, I'm here, we'll talk later".  A couple of weeks ago when I said this, my dad was a bit annoyed and said "why don't you just wait a bit?", and so I waited outside and continued the conversation.  When it was over, I realized (quite late) that I was operating in too much of a me-centric world to see that my parents wanted to connect more.  Since then, I'll still call on my way to the grocery store, but now once ... Read Full Story >>

A Grocery Store ‘Tag’ Team

A few weeks ago I went grocery shopping with a wonderful friend. She had a handful of spare quarters in her handbag so the two of us decided to put them to some ‘good’ use. 

Finding Happiness By Giving It To Others

A young lady complained to her counselor that she felt that her whole life was empty and had no meaning to her. The counselor saw an old lady who cleaned the office floors and called her over.  She told the young lady that this old cleaning lady was happy and asked her to explain how she had found that happiness. The old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story: "Well, some time back, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I was devastated.  I had nobody... I had nothing left... I could not sleep... I could not eat and I never smiled at anyone. I even thought of taking my own life." Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten ... Read Full Story >>

A Bus Ride, A Teddy Bear and a Happy Child

I take the buses and trains on my commute here in Los Angeles and I come in contact with all sorts of people.   I often purchase things from our local Goodwill store and the like - even before the economic downturn.  One time as I was walking past, I saw a stuffed bear and I simply couldn’t resist, so I indulged my inner child and bought it for a dollar or two.  I jumped on the bus after I had bought my bear.  I was sitting near , a mother who was trying to calm her small baby. The darling boy was probably just hungry or tired, or any of the other moods we display.  His outbursts were beginning to get the better of the other passengers, who were probably equally tired/hungry etc.   I pulled out my stuffed bear and asked the mom if I could offer it to her child ... Read Full Story >>

Walking a Mile in a Homeless Man's Shoes

This was a wonderful experience. It happened about three years ago and it has had a strong impact on me. I would like to pay tribute here to two men I do not know personally but whose actions gave a new meaning to the words kindness and generosity. I was walking down a busy street in the financial district on a cold, windy day in early winter. A barefoot homeless man, probably about 60, was begging for change on a street corner. A BMW pulled up on the other side of the street and stopped and an immaculately dressed executive stepped out of the car.  He was a tall, slim and imposing gentleman with silver harid, he was probably about 60 yrs old.  He was wearing a blue pinstriped business suit, deep red silk tie, white shirt, mirror-shined black shoes,  silver wristwatch, black overcoat, leather gloves, the works. Dapper, dignified, distinguished. He walked briskly and puposefully across the street ... Read Full Story >>

A Covert And Spontaneous 'Tag'

I arrived at the Embarcadero station in San Francisco and realized that all I had was a $5 bill, and that I would need to get some change to pay my Muni fare. I saw  a café nearby and thought I could buy something small in there and break my $5 bill.  I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I bought a muffin anyway to get some change.  I then had a thought – I could ‘tag’ someone with the muffin.  So as I waited for the Muni streetcar, I was then on the lookout for an opportunity to "tag" someone who was homeless or looked hungry.  I scanned Market Street and did not see anyone, so I walked a little further down.  Suddenly, a fairly fast moving homeless man pushing a shopping cart filled with his belongings caught my eye across the street.  I also saw my Muni streetcar was coming, so I'd have to ... Read Full Story >>

Making a Difference by Just Saying 'I Love You'

It may not seem like much, but it made such a difference. This morning I told my mum I loved her just because I wanted to.  It was so unexpected that she has been in a good mood all day. That one little comment made her so happy that I think everyone should tell those closest to them that they are loved every day