Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Karma for Me

I was in line at the grocery store yesterday and the lady in front of me was purchasing her items and buying a treat for her grand-daughter - a bag of mini M&M's.

She was fussy about it but I finally calmed her down.

Then as I started to ring up my purchases, the cashier passes me a bag of M&M's. I asked her what this was about. She said the lady in front of me bought it for my daugher while I was trying to calm her down. I didn't notice and I didn't even get to thank her because she had left while I wasn't looking.

If you're somewhere reading on this board - I say Thank You! My daughter smiled all the way home!!

What a great concept by the way!!

That's my story - not the grandest thing I suppose but it made my day a whole lot brighter that's for sure.

Thanks again!

Keep spreading the love!!!

Last week my close friend was not feeling well and she hesistated to tell me thinking I will be worried. I was not sure what I could do for her to make her feel better. Monday morning as I was entering my office building, I went to the flower shop next to our building. I sent a beautiful basket full of flowers to my friend with a note saying "Have a wonderful day".

She was so delighted to see the flowers coming into her office

Sometimes a small act like these for those so close to your heart can make their day.

Keep spreading the love...

Shopping adventures

Recently we went to a Wal Mart store (big adventure in the city for us). When we arrived, it was really busy (maybe normal but seemed very busy to us). When we went into the store, there were no shopping carts to be had, so my husband went outside to collect as many as he could. Before he ever made it back into the store, he had given away all the carts and went back for more. As we shopped, people pointed and smiled at us and told him thanks for being so nice.

He said, "I don't know what the big deal is. Anyone would have done the same thing."

How One DAR Chapter Is Helping Our Injured War Heroes

If you have always thought that the Daughters of the American Revolution were just a bunch of little old ladies sitting at tea with their white gloves on discussing their Patriot Ancestors, you may have to change your opinion. I am an associate member of the Elizabeth Ellington Chapter of the DAR in Bremerton, WA and this is an email I received yesterday. Ladies, Today Annie and I went to the Naval Base Kitsap (Bangor) Navy Exchange and purchased $810 worth of phone cards to be sent to our injured war heroes at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany . Our service men and women will be able, because of your generosity, to utilize a total of 2,479 hours of "talk" time with loved ones. That equates to 14,874 minutes. A total of 75 $10.00 cards and 3 $20 dollar cards were purchased and affixed with DAR phone card labels. I ... Read Full Story >>

Vacation update

Kindness is contagious

I was in a great mood last weekend and started talking to a homeless person near Times Square.  Watching me being nice to that old lady caught the fancy of 2 passerbys who came by and gave her a soda and some cookies. 

Kindness for a Cancer Patient

I'm having chemo at the moment and got on the bus feeling rather weak and sick. A little old lady got up to let me sit down saying "I know what it's like." She was glancing at my headscarf which covers my baldy head.  Full marks to her for consideration and KINDNESS  XXX

Just Because

When my husband and I go to a fair and we get beaded necklaces, or if we win prizes (my husband loves games) or if we have extra tickets to the rides, we give them to a child who looks they need a smile. We don't have kids so who better to give them to?

At the petting zoo, I always share my food with young kids and let them feed the animal with my hand underneath if they are scared.  There is nothing better than to know you just lit up a child's face.

A smile for a kid who needed it!

My mom came to see me at college and then we went to see my little brother play basketball. While we were there, we saw one of her students who had a lot going on in his life at the time. He had it pretty rough.

Free Surprise from a Grocery Store- A kid's dream

The strangest thing happened to me. I was up early with the baby and decided to go to the grocery store.  When I entered Albertson's grocery store, there was a cart full of FREE candy and kid's treats. I was so surprised- they even had nice candy corn (a treat I think of fondly from having neighbors in Wisconsin who used to give this out to the kids) for free.  I still couldn't believe it - chocolate, candy corn, stuffed animals, balloons.  I checked with the manager to make sure this wasn't a mistake! He said "Take it all. Give it to the neighborhood kids." Then it dawned on me- how about taking it and spreading kindness to all the kids in the neighborhood!  So I loaded a cart full (and still had to pinch myself because this just doesn't happen to me. I give a lot of free ... Read Full Story >>

Cleaning Up Bad Habits

My lovely roommates are always complaining about my messy ways.

My roommates were out of town this weekend so I decided to completely clean the kitchen, the bathroom, and the living room as a surprise. 

Boy, were they shocked!

My Mom's First Truly Anonymous Kind Act

Here's a story my mom recently emailed our family. I thought I'd share with the group! Per your invitation card instructions, I decided to do my first truly anonymous act of kindness as my baby-shower offering. For Junior, I wanted to crochet a receiving blanket and I just learned crocheting. Then I realized what you had asked for was an anonymous act of kindness. I decided to do it for someone unknown. I got white yarn and started crocheting with as much good wishes and blessings as possible for an unknown baby. It came out beautifully with a center area of shaded blue. And I myself felt a little bit attached to it by the time it was completed! But I remembered what you had asked for. So I asked a friend to accompany me. She had no experience of this sort either. First, we decided to ... Read Full Story >>

A New Generation of Smiles

I plan to hand these cards out to college students to encourage them to go out and change the world. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Science Fiction, Kindness Non-Fiction

I was renewing my library card the other day, and overheard the transaction of the user being assisted by the adjacent clerk. If not outright homeless(he carried with him two large bags of possessions), the scruffy man was clearly going through an extremely hard time. It seems that he was unable to check out a book because he had an outstanding $3.00 fine on some books he had turned-back late. He told the clerk there was no possible way for him to pay the fine. I reached over and slipped the man three dollars. He paid his fine and thanked me profusely: "I don't know how I could make it through a night on the street without my science fiction." That is not the story. Here's the story. As he was getting up to leave, I was in the process of fishing through my wallet for a photo ... Read Full Story >>

Grocery Store

I was at a grocery store today. Rob, a second grade student and his mom were in line ahead of me to pay. 

Rob had a 20 oz Coke bottle in his hand.  As soon as his mom paid, Rob opened up the bottle and started guzzling Coke.  

Apparently he dropped the bottle on the floor and made a mess.   His mom slapped him and the store keeper was pissed as he had to clean it up. 

As Rob was crying, I decided to buy him another Coke. 

I gave the coke and a smile card to his mother.  I also offered the store keeper, if I could help him clean up.  He just smiled and took care of it.  

Rob stopped crying and actually sang a song for me before leaving cheerfully.

Opening Doors

Today at Union Station, two female paramedics were carrying a heavy stretcher.   I simply opened the door for them so that they could go in and out at will.  

I held the door  in the cold for about 10 mins as they rushed between their ambulance and the track where the patient was!  Not sure if this is a random act of kindness, but felt good :-)

Smile Jar

I was volunteering at a pie fair in early fall this year and when I visited a white elephant tent called "Grandma's Attic" I found a jar of smiles for 25 cents. They were slips of paper with random encouraging sayings printed on them.  How perfect!?  So I grabbed it, a whole jar of smiles for a quarter, and planted it next to me on the pie slice table.  As people purchased their pie slices, they were encouraged to also take a smile, to go. 
Once you add smiles and kindness to your personal routine, the universe finds ways to support you!

Unloading Bricks

I was interviewing a friend near a school, and a man came up and started unloading bricks near us. He was doing his best to be very quiet and not interrupt our shooting, but was having difficulty keeping the noise down and had a huge load to unload.  We decided to help him unload his truck and spent the next hour chatting as we did that. 

The beauty and coincidence of the situation was that we had selected that shooting location because of the stunning murals on the wall of that school.  It turned out that this man had been instrumental in getting the PTA to agree to allow an artist to paint those murals.  So in a way, he had already done something for us by giving us an amazing shoot location-- and then happened to show up right as we were shooting to continue his good work such that we could repay his kindness by helping him.

Midnight roses

I was recently at a conference in Barcelona, Spain (home of Gaudi) when I thought, wouldn't it be great to do a little act of kindness in a far away city? I went through the lively La Rambla street - enjoying the scene and (in the back of my mind) looking for an opportunity of kindness. But I couldn't find anything right away. It was mostly tourists and street vendors.

Finally, I returned to the hotel past midnight when a haggardly old man came up to me and asked if I wanted to buy a rose. He had not sold one all day and was tired and hungry. I had a friend with me. She warned me that this could be simply a 'line' to rope me in. But I knew what to do. I bought 2 roses, gave her one and walked inside the hotel lobby and surprised someone with the second rose.

Ultimately it was really just a couple of Euros but at the end of it, at least 4 people were smiling on their way back to the bed.  

The Secret

A friend of mine was deeply concerned about lack of funds for survival to say nothing about what is needed for her to effectively make her contribution to the world.

I sent her some paypal money so she could view The Secret online, which is a wonderful movie about the Law of Attraction and how to create resources through bypassing fear and creating the feeling of what it would be like to have it.