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A Bead and the Kindness of Strangers

My daughter is a teller at a bank.  She saw that one of her clients was wearing a charm bracelet made by "Pandora."  I had been wanting one of them for my birthday.  My husband just bought me one last week so I got my present early. 

My daughter mentioned to the customer how pretty her three braclets were and that I had just got one as an early birthday present.  The customer asked when my birthday was and my daughter told her.  The woman, according to my daughter, replied, "Oh, my birthday is on the 20th" and then she opened her braclet and took off a beautiful charm and gave it to my daughter to give to me as a gift! 

The reason I wanted one of these braclets is so that as my friends and family buy beads for it I will be able to look at each one with love and fondness for the person giving it.  This bead will always remind ME to pay it forward and to be kind even to a stranger.  What a wonderful reminder as I glance down at my bracelet. 

Teelu The Puppy

Yesterday afternoon the sky was dark and the rain poured down. I went upstairs to catch the cool breeze. It was still moody, as if sky and the clouds were tired and decided to cry some rain. Yet the climate was awesome and the breeze cooled my body from head to toe.   I went onto the balcony and saw a small puppy near the gate of our apartment. He had been drenched by the rain.   I immediately ran downstairs with a towel in my hand. I rushed to the puppy and wrapped him in the towel.   I cleaned the mud from him, got into an auto, and took him to nearby veterinary doctor. He examined him and gave an injection for his health.    I brought him back home and made a place for him to sleep. I gave him a cup of milk and bread to keep his hunger away. He was good enough and ... Read Full Story >>

The Gift on the Sidewalk

Today, I was babysitting my two-year-old friend, Liam. He was feeling sad and wanted to stay inside with his mom and dad. I tried everything to get him interested in playing outside with me. Nothing worked. Finally, as a last resort, I took a shiny new penny out of my pocket. I tossed the penny down the sidewalk and then chased after it. It must have looked fun, because he joined right in! On one of my tosses, the shiny penny rolled down the sidewalk and appeared to stop near a Christmas tree that was laying next to the gutter, waiting to be picked up by the recycle truck. As I squatted near the tree to look for the penny, I spotted a small, lonely Christmas ornament attached to one of the branches. Scooping it up, I was struck by how delicate it was. Handmade, and crafted from felt, it was in the ... Read Full Story >>

A Simple but Meaningful Act of Gratitude

Every month, I write letters to two Marines serving in Afghanistan who I don't know.  I thank them for their service to our nation. While I don't know them, I hope that they know how much I appreciate them.

My First Kindness Assignment

 
The first real "kindness assignment" I was ever given came when I was in 2nd grade. 
 
A small boy with red hair, freckles and pleading eyes asked me, "Would you please be my friend, because I don't have any?" 
 
This really scared me. This boy was disliked and shunned by the other students for some reason. I had a brief, scared, thought that I would also become an outcast and be disliked if I befriended him. I remember my heart pounding a second or two.
 
Then I remembered what this world was all about and I said, "Yes. I will be your friend." 
 
When you have to make a quick decision always choose love over fear. Kindness can be as easy as speaking one word!
 

The Veteran Who Wants To Make Folk Smile

Last weekend I was navigating my way through a Good-will store as I do every Saturday. I was absorbed in my own thoughts when I overheard an employee say, "Let me shake your hand to thank you for your service!"   I looked up and saw the employee, a man in his 30s, shaking the hand of an elderly man wearing a "WW II Veteran" hat. As they started talking I stood and listened in.   The veteran said he was 85 and when the employee and I expressed surprised he fished out his driver's license to prove it. This man was sharp as a tack and looked to be in great physical shape. And, boy, did he have a sense of humor!   The three of us stood there for about 15 minutes, just chatting away about the veteran's war experiences. He described the feeling he had when Germany surrendered in the war, how ... Read Full Story >>

Seeds That Blossom And Windows That Gleam

Today I received a lovely act of kindness from a seed I panted some time ago!

Runaway Coffee Barrels and the 'Angel of Mercy'

Coming home from a coffee shop today, we had our old truck loaded down with three 50-gal. barrels of mostly coffee grounds that we use to make compost.  My husband had laid them down in the truck, and as we came up the ramp to a major intersection the tailgate hinge broke and all the barrels rolled out into the street behind us. Thank goodness there were no cars immediately behind us, which was a bit of a miracle since it was lunch hour. One barrel rolled right into a lane, and the two others were partially in a lane.  We slammed on the brakes, jumped out, and I retrieved the closest one while my husband started running back toward the ramp to get the other two. I knew that one of the ones he was going to get was extremely heavy; we had had a horrible time getting it into ... Read Full Story >>

The Blanket In The Dug-Out

In my new position as manager of parks and recreation in a small California mountain town I have the great privilege of being able to visit parks and playgrounds as part of my job responsibilities.  A month or so ago, on a cold autumn morning, I walked through a ball park near my office. In the dug-out I noticed some trash and an old blanket which I picked up and carried toward the trash bin. As I lifted the blanket to dispose of it I caught a whiff ... and it occurred to me that it was being used, probably by a homeless person. I stopped, thought about it, and reluctantly returned the blanket to the dug-out.   Over the next couple of weeks I would pop my head into the dug-out. The blanket was always there, always in a different place. As our maintenance men were in the park often I assumed ... Read Full Story >>

Service Area Sweets

This past holiday season, I drove with my parents to Boston to visit my distant cousin. On my way way back home, we stopped at service area for food. As we were stopped there, there was this old lady who was busy cleaning all the tables and chairs as people leaving, making sure everything is neat and clean. I just thought of gifting her with five dollars and a chocolate in my pocket. I wrote on a paper napkin: "Thank you and Merry Xmas." I wanted to leave it there for her but decided to walk up to her and give her. She asked me, "Is it a gift? Only then will I take it." I nodded, "Yes," and smiled at her. "Thank you," she replied, and I left to buy some stuff from the store inside. On my way back to car, the woman stopped me. "I make a lot of cookies and candies on ... Read Full Story >>

Baffling Software Leads to Kind Solutions

As a student researcher at the Radiological Sciences department at UC Irvine, I use various software to collect and analyze scans of people with brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. When I first started doing research, I found the QuPath software to be very difficult to use. There were a lot of different tools and an extensive amount of new vocabulary to learn. There was another student working on a similar project also using the QuPath software. She walked me through a lot of it and although she had her own project to work on, she was always ready to answer any questions.  I continued to struggle with the software during the times when she was not in the lab and there was no one to ask for help. It took me quite some time and practice to become proficient at using it but eventually, I was very well-acquainted with ... Read Full Story >>

Children Hand Out Ice Cream Vouchers On State Street In Kindness

Children hand out ice cream vouchers on State Street in kindness: I saw the video last night on TV, but it doesn't look like it's available online, but the story is. These are my students and the kindness flash mob we did yesterday! #AprilRAoK

Giving treats away at McDonalds

I was at McDonalds the other day and was trying to decide what snack to get to tide me till I rode the 2 bus home.

There was a young lady looking at the menu but just got a small soda. I decided to help and got 2 breakfast burritos for one dollar each and 2 apple pies which are 2 for a dollar. I shared a burrito and pie with her and you would have thought it was the best meal of all time.

She was happy and I was too. I was able to share a meal with someone . I told her I never like to eat alone and was happy for the company. Who knows maybe I will see her there again some day.

Found out she had lost her job and didn't have much money for food . I told her to go to my church and they would help her with some groceries to help out. So I know she will have something else to eat later on that day too. Its a blessing to help someone in need.

Lunchtime

Around lunchtime today my son and I were walking in our community's busy "downtown" area. We passed by a homeless man sitting on the street and since I had no cash on me, all we could give him was a smile and a good wish. As we walked on my son asked me didn't I have any money to give him--I said I don't have cash, but why don't we ask him if he would like something to eat. On our way back on that street after doing our errand we saw the same man and asked him if he would like us to get him some lunch. His face brightened up and when I asked what he would like, he just said "anything is fine". So then my son pointed to a rather fancy looking "parisian cafe" type of place across the street and we decided to go in there. ... Read Full Story >>

Do All, Feel Most

When you do an act of human kindness, you walk a step in someone else's shoes.     This can change your life.  It changed mine.   I was in an awful job, 18hr days, getting reamed out by my boss.  My new husband lived in another city and I saw him 1x a month, and even then we just had terrible, horrible fights.  I was underweight, my hair thinning, I had eczema.  But quitting was failure, simple as that.     One day I was late for work and grabbed a taxi.  I was on my computer when I noticed the driver.  He was middle-aged Asian man wearing a nice golf polo and simply put, did not look like other cab drivers I'd seen in the city.   I asked him where he was from.  Korea, he's been here 25 years.  I asked him how long he'd been driving a cab.  A month.   He said the reason he started driving was for money.  His daughter ... Read Full Story >>

This Is Really Great!

Leaving Paris, I had no more use for my mobile SIM card, which still had quite a bit of talk-time on it.

So, after checking-in for my flight, I made a detour to the Arrival area, where I found a just-arrived, almost-elderly couple making enthusiastic enquiries in English at the Information Desk. I asked if they'd like my SIM card and talk-time.

The man replied, "We had just a moment ago asked where we could buy one." "Now you have one," I said, handing his wife a small, cellophane envelope containing the SIM and a Smile Card. "Wow," he said, "this is great!"

She removed the Smile Card and started to examine it as I turned to head-back to the Departure area. "Hey," she called after me, "THIS is REALLY great!" I simply kept-on walking, grinning as broadly as I hoped they were.

One Of My Most Precious Memories

Again, this has to be from my Grand Mother. She keeps a journal in which she writes her prayers down for people in her family. She has done this every single day for the past 37 years. We were discussing them one day and she said, "you should go read them".

So I did. I found my name listed, every single day for 37 years. Sweet unconditional love for me no matter where I was, what I was doing or what dilemma I was facing.

One passage said, "Oh dear Lord, please protect Savannah from things that would destroy her". I realized that this prayer was the same time as a very volatile and dangerous person was destroying my life. She has always known. Just simply known, when I was in the deepest need.

This makes me smile and feel safe and cloaked by God and my Granny every single day.

Baked in goodness

Through an awesome group of people, I spent a week finding ways to 'create non-monetary wealth' for others. One thing I got to do was to perform a random kindness. I popped over to my very favorite vegan bakery, Reverie Bakeshop, and handed $30.00 to the woman behind the counter with (quietly) the special instructions that it be used to pay for the next few orders until it ran out. She didn’t understand what I was asking her to do at first and kept trying to give me a gift card for it, so I explained (also quietly, as there were by now two patrons who had walked in behind me) that the money was not for me, but rather random people who came in for an afternoon treat. Her face lit up as she realized what she was then going to get to do and exclaimed happily to the man now ... Read Full Story >>

A Mother's Sacrifice

My mom only had one eye. I hated her... she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell... anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment. There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me. I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom, why don't you have the other eye?! You're only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don't you just die?" My mom did not respond. I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it ... Read Full Story >>

Cinderella, you have brightened the world.

Today was an intense day that offered opportunity for the whole community to be kind. Our dear friend Cinderella down the road had a severe stroke some time last night, and was found this morning by her close friend who noticed she had not picked up her paper or walked her dog. Thank GOODNESS for kind, loving neighbors who pay attention. She ran to get my mom, who is a nurse, and we both ran to Cindy's house. I had never seen someone in her state, she was not responsive to us, but she looked terrified. We called 911 , and while we waited we spoke to her to calm her and I sang to her a little bit, which helped her close her eyes and stop shaking. After she was taken, 2 neighbors went to the hospital, while a team of 4 of us began to clean her room and figure ... Read Full Story >>