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Help from an Unexpected Source

Several years ago I was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. On my off-chemo weeks I would go out an walk around my neighborhood, as I usually do, albeit much more slowly, not as far, and with a cap on to protect my chemo-bald head from the sun. One afternoon I was walking past a house several doors down from mine; the family who lived there were people with whom I had a "Hi, how ya doing?" kind of acquaintance, but we never really introduced ourselves to each other. This day the man was out working in his yard and as I walked by, he came out to the street and stopped me, saying "I want you to know that my wife and I understand that you are going through some kind of illness and that we are praying for you." Then he continued, "And my wife has a little something she'd ... Read Full Story >>

Memorable Kindness

Today is the seventh anniversary of my Dad's death. While missing him, I am reminded of the incredible acts of kindness given to me that day. 

A friend I met while waiting for my emergency cab ride home from work who prayed with me on the street. The cabby who offered to take me all the way to the hospital, rather than the parking lot where my car was, and then tried to refuse my tip.

The close family friend and minister who, while going through a loss in his own family, joined us at the hospital to give my Dad a last blessing and to share stories with us over Dad's bed. And many more.

Feeling blessed, even this many years later, for all the support that was placed in my path during that difficult time. And so very thankful.

A Heartfelt Way to End the Year

There is a family in our neighborhood that moved here from Sri Lanka. Their daughter goes to the same school as my children so we see her at the bus stop often. They have had a tough time since they came to America. They had some medical bills last week that made Christmas gifts not possible.

I told my wife that we needed to help her. We got the family a gift card and two toys for each of her two children. When my wife called her mom and told her what we were going to do, she wanted to help too. She bought a few gifts for each child as well.

We took over the gifts, some cookies and wrapping paper for the gifts. The woman was so happy and excited that the kids would have some things to open for Christmas. We couldn't be happier ourselves that we had spread a few smiles.

Some friends and I are doing 10 kind acts for the last 10 days of the year starting today. I thought this was a great way to start it off! It was six years ago today that I joined HelpOthers. It has changed my life in the BEST way, causing me to do more things like this than I ever have! Day one down, nine to go! :)

MSS

Breakfast with Strangers

Recently, my husband and I were visiting a dear aunt in another state. My aunt cannot leave the house.  She loves hamburgers and fries, but only eats them when they somehow find their way to her through kind visitors.  While we were visiting, we told her that we would go get breakfast and bring back her favorites upon our return.  At the restaurant, we were seated at a booth and ordered.  The booths had very low dividers, so people could overhear conversations or converse back and forth with neighboring tables.  Next to us was a family of four: a mother, father, daughter and son.  The boy was younger, so he was kind of busy, moving around, smiling when our eyes met, and just generally sweet.  We started a conversation with him and found that this was the first day of school for his slightly older sister, so they were celebrating by going to ... Read Full Story >>

The Traveler

One afternoon last summer I was driving along on my way home when I noticed a woman at the roadside near the edge of town struggling with a wheeled suitcase. There was no sidewalk, only grass, and she was having a rough way to go. I pulled over to a nearby parking lot to watch her. I suspected that she was headed to the homeless shelter across the street. As it became apparent that she was on her way somewhere I continued to observe. She appeared to be in her fifties and was dressed very conservatively, a skirt nearly to her ankles, a blouse, and a lace shawl around her shoulders. In truth I was not only assessing her situation but whether or not she had the potential to harm me if I intervened. After a couple of minutes I turned around, pulled the car up next to her and offered her a ... Read Full Story >>

Young Souls Old Bodies

The woman who lives across the street is in her late 80's and 2 years ago I was gifted with the chance to help her a few days a week.   I learned that she is a kindred spirit and so we became great friends.  Lately she has been down in the dumps and has expressed that she is just tired of being alive. She feels very lonely and frustrated with her inability to 'do' much of anything anymore. We have begun talking about the stages of life, especially the final stage where our bodies become less able and we learn to focus on our spirits. Following the prompt yesterday, I passed on a book to her that describe how caterpillars just know that there is more to life than crawling and eating.   Eventually they take a chance and become butterflies! It seemed fit for where she is in her life right now. ... Read Full Story >>

A Generous Gesture That Made A Dream Come True

I had a dream for over a year, to attend the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. I had even reserved a hostel room a year in advance  because I so wanted to be there. I had worked very hard to arrange things, but was having trouble raising money for the trip. I asked one of my MBA professors who is connected in investing circles to ask, if I were to write an appeal letter, would he please send it to his contacts? He apologized, because he said there is not much money available right now because of the economy. Then he paused, and asked me where I was flying from. When I told him, he asked me if he could help me out with flight miles to Copenhagen for the trip. I was awestruck by the offer. I hurried to tell him that I had not mentioned this to ask ... Read Full Story >>

A Gift for My Aunt

My aunt was the first in our family to be diagnosed with thyroid cancer last September. When a loved one gets cancer, the whole family goes along for the ride. I am so grateful that my aunt is stable and still fighting this disease. A friend introduced me to website, where you can help alleviate hunger, simply by clicking a button. For each click, the site sponsors will donate a cup of rice on your behalf. One day while I was on this website, I discovered that you can buy Indian head scarves at a discounted price for chemo patients. They had really good reviews, so I decided to buy eight. I picked out a red one to mail to my aunt. Then I dropped the remaining seven scarves off at the local cancer center. When I got there and explained my gift, the lady at the desk was surprised. She thought that ... Read Full Story >>

My half full Water Bottle

Water Kindness

Oddest thing, on way home from park, older gal sitting on a porch, asked me if I had water, as I was passing her house. I said yes, I have. She said, no, I mean for me. I said well I already drank some, do you want it? Yes she said, I am dying of thirst. I gave her my bottle of water and said keep it. She thanked me. I left. Why wouldn't she have gone into the house for water. Locked out?
I don't kow, but putting this on my RAOK list for today.


(It might have been that she was locked out.)
 
Funny, I usually finish all the water in my bottle after I sit on the bench after my brisk walk in the park.  Today I had to cut my walk short because my sandals ribbed a blister on my foot, so I hardly drank any. Maybe the Universe knew I was going to need to share?


 

Three Feet of Snow and a Very Kind Neighbor

It's no secret that we've had some pretty crazy weather in the Maryland area this past winter. We had 15 inches of snow during one month followed by 28 more inches. Whenever it snowed like that, I packed my things up and stayed at my mom's house, both to help her with shoveling and for the ease of getting my car out of the driveway to get to work rather than attempting it from my mountain side driveway. I did about 4 hours of shovelling one day and only managed to dig us out of the house and a small walking path to and around 3 sides of my car.  To make better headway the next day, I set the alarm and got out there preparing to do the necessary 3 or 4 shovelling rounds before being able to relax and watch the Super Bowl. My whole body was in pain from the ... Read Full Story >>

Small Gestures in the Workplace

One day, while I was walking to work, I decided to bring some flowers that I had picked from my garden that morning. I came across a random stranger, and was inspired to give the bunch to him with a smile card.  Struck by the sense of joy I felt from giving flowers to another person, and maybe brightening his day, I wanted to do it again. When I got to my office, I had the idea of anonymously leaving flowers around the workplace. Sometimes, the impersonal atmosphere of the building where I work numbs my spirits a little. It's a nice building, with great light, but it just feels a little sterile sometimes. I figured lots of people might feel the same way, so why not put a little beauty there, and throw in an inspirational quote while I'm at it? After all, who doesn't like flowers? So, for the past month, I've been putting flowers ... Read Full Story >>

Doormat Surprises

Once a year, the ladies from my church bring flowers for a special service. After the service is over, they throw them away.

This year, instead of throwing the flowers away, I took them home and decided to give them to my neighbors.

My mom helped me pair each flower with a card that read "Blessings". Then we placed them on the doormat of each neighbor. We could have left our names in the cards, but I think it always feels better when a gift is given anonymously. 

As I went from door to door, I smiled, knowing that when my neighbors go to check their mail, they will be pleasantly surprised with an anonymous act of kindness!

When we finished, I felt so full of joy inside. It was such a great feeling to share flowers with my neighbors, especially since most of them are elders and rarely receive anything at all.

Sixth Graders and the Smile Deck

I teach a sixth grade religion class, and today I played the Smile Deck game with my students.  They each left with two kind acts to complete and were very enthusiastic as I handed them regular Smile Cards to go along with the Smile Deck Cards.

One student was able to complete one of her acts that day itself, when class ended.  She held the door for those leaving the building, handing out Smile Cards to those who would take them.  It was uncomfortable for her at first (12 years old is an awkward age, at best), but she got the hang of it and started to enjoy her 15 minutes as 'Door Woman'!

I am excited to hear about how the other children's acts of kindness go.

I hope that my take on the ways we can “take care of God's creation” will sink into these kids, and they will carry forward the idea of embracing kindness as a meaningful part of life.

This is just the beginning for me!!  Thanks for the forum of inspiration!

Secret Shopping In Iceland

I work just minutes from one of London’s busiest railway stations. Another minute or two away is a lovely, lively street with stalls selling Mexican, Thai and French food, as well as cafes, sandwich places and an Iceland which is one of the cheaper frozen food stores here in the UK.   As I was walking around one lunch time I spotted a small elderly lady pushing an empty push-chair slowly along the pavement.     I immediately wanted to do something for her but I felt a little strange following her around so I decided to continue my walk. Fate had other plans though. A few minutes later I passed Iceland and saw her putting groceries into her push-chair inside the store.     That’s when I decided I’d try to pay for her shopping.    The cashier looked at me kind of incredulously as I tried to explain that the money I was handing over ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness Calendar For Kids!

I've been inspired by the shared stories from teachers introducing the Kindness Challenge to their students. I've spent this rainy morning working on a Kindness calendar for my second graders. Can't wait to get started...they are going to eat this up!  (Update: great idea to share!  Here's the PDF of the calendar and list of ideas.)

The Three Women I Met On a NYC Subway

I felt "Oneness" on the NYC subway today... I made three new friends on the subway. Two on the trip into the city and one on the way home. Three women. One nine months pregnant, who sat next to me when my husband insisted she take his seat (she refused his offer at first). She was from Spain and we chatted the whole trip into the city. Another was a young woman from Venezuela who I sat with on the bench waiting for our train to arrive. We talked about ten minutes. Exchanged cards (gave her a Smile Card & she gave me her website card. She's a healer). The third woman came on the train on our return trip and we both smiled at each other when she sat opposite me , and a few times during the ride. I felt good energy coming from her. When she was exiting she smiled and ... Read Full Story >>

A Moment of Calm

My husband and I were cleaning windows together yesterday. We  have the double-hung windows that you can pull forward and flip, allowing us to clean the inside and the outside surfaces. My husband was washing one window - and it popped out of its frame!  Well, our house is for sale and the last thing we needed was for something to break. He was so upset and tried with all his might to get it back together, using a few less than pleasant words (I am sorry to say). After twenty minutes he still could not get it fixed. That's when my 23 year old son told his dad to walk away for a minute and he would try to fix it with me. It's amazing how you can see things more clearly and do things more easily when you are calm. He and I fixed the window in three minutes! I called ... Read Full Story >>

The Balloon Man

I had a wonderful day at a country show. Noticed the man selling balloons. Always feel bad for them as they stand all day in the cold, the heat or the rain… I thought ‘this is my chance for another bit of kindness’…so went up to him and asked him if he’d give some child a free balloon if I paid for it. He agreed. As I was walking away a father with a boy approached him and I could hear the conversation behind my back: ‘How much do they cost?’…’Well, nothing because someone has just paid for it for you--’Oh’…Thank you!’ Later I went to get him a cold drink-it was very hot-and took it to him to thank him for having been honest and done it. We started talking. He told me that when he was young he’d done lots for charity, especially marathons. He has now problems standing ... Read Full Story >>

What Makes a Grumpy Bus Driver Laugh?

I often take the bus for my daily commutes, and one of the drivers on the route to my house isn't known to be very nice. In fact, not many people like him at all. It doesn't take much for him to turn up his nose, or to ignore members of the community who are stranded when he drives by. That didn't bother me, though.  I decided that, no matter what his mood is on a given day, I would continue to greet and smile at him. Unconditionally.  Now, after awhile of doing this, I've noticed that his overall demeanor towards me has changed.  He not only smiles at me, but he cracks jokes, too!  One time, I fell asleep on his bus, and when I woke, I said, jokingly, "Why didn't you wake me? You know where I live!" We both laughed hard, and since then it has been an on-going joke ... Read Full Story >>

How I learned [I'm]Perfect in Middle School

   When I think of the word perfect, I think of something only a few can achieve, like high beauty standards, the super-smart girl in my class, or anything that I can compare myself to. For a few weeks now, I have been noticing this one girl who is in a few of my middle school classes. She has fabulous long dark brown hair, big hazel eyes, and the most beautiful face. She always wears the prettiest outfits and seems to be the most popular girl in school, at least in my point of view. It seems like she has a perfect life, lots of friends, all A's, and everything anyone could ever want.    One day, I was in language arts talking to my teacher about one of the upcoming tests, when I saw the girl staring at me in this weird way. I immediately started to freak out and ... Read Full Story >>