Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Frodo, Sam and the KindSpring Family


--by patjos, posted Aug 4, 2016
I’ve been thinking lately about my visits to the KS community, about how much I enjoy coming here and about the different types of messages which are posted here. I like to participate in some way too as I feel that it’s only fair to give as well as to receive encouragement from all of you however, I’m often at a loss as to what sort of thing to share. Should I post a pretty picture of a flower, an inspirational quote or should I tell a kindness story?

When I first came to KindSpring I had recovered from depression and anxiety attacks, KS helped me to see beyond my immediate field of vision, and the inspirational stories of kindness renewed my outlook on life and the world in general. I had come from a period in my life which was pretty much summed up by these words from Tolkien which I read almost daily and often clung onto,



Frodo: “I can’t do this, Sam”
Sam: “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are.

It’s like in the great stories, Mr Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out all the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding onto something.”
Frodo: “What are we holding onto, Sam?”
Sam: “That there’s some good in this world, Mr Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”


I still love this quote. Even today as I re-read it for the hundredth time, it reminds me that we truly are on some sort of adventure. And it is something that we do need to be reminded of periodically, especially when the most heroic undertaking seems to be getting the children ready for school in the morning, or walking up the steps to work in an office every day.

It may seem an incredible feat of daring for King Arthur and his knights of the round table to be off fighting dragons most of the year and saving fair maidens, but show me just one of them who had to
finish work in the evening, come home and prepare the dinner, help with the children’s homework and put on a washing day after day after day!

It’s no surprise to me that I can’t think what to say when I come here, for how can we tell of our heroic deeds of a simple smile, a kind word, a hand -- held, deeds which we are already blessed with in the doing of? And we are sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of noise and tumult which the world’s media makes about events, sad and sorrowful as they are, the media would have you think that it is they that make the world go round, or that something other than Love (perfect, unconditional, blissful Love) is in control. And all the while kindness seems to go unnoticed and unsung, though as we all know, that is a long way far from the case!

As a couple of KS members have mentioned to me recently, it’s difficult to live the kindness, really live it, and at the same time see it as something to shout about or write about, not when it’s second-nature anyway. Or should I say, our true nature?

Anyway, I’ve said enough for today!

I once heard that “The purpose of friendships is to help one another grow and mature – sharpening us into who we never dreamed we could be.” So I thank you all for the friendship of the KS family.
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Readers Comments

Lindsay H wrote: Thanks for making me cry at work! What a beautiful, beautiful thing to share with all of us.

Lord of the rings is one of my very very favorites too.
laughingsoul wrote: Look at the number of the smiles this post got! I am here for a few months and never seen so many smiles in one place. Your post is breathing kindness which often may be born from hardship.. I think and feel our world as good despite the media's efforts to show the otherwise.. People are good. We can find goodness everywhere. Your post and the comments here are a beautiful proof. Thank you for sharing.
patjos wrote: What can I say? Thanks for all of your shares and stories and kind words. It's great to hear from you all and know that we truly are sailing in the same boat - wow, what a thought! Off now to find out about the Challenge - 800 participants now, incredible!
Virginia wrote: A shorter version of the excellent quote you shared is: this too shall pass.
Thanks for the reminder that we sometimes have to push harder to get through the dark but there will be sunshine again.
kjoyw wrote: Wonderful open, heartfelt post! Thank you. And never worry about what to post about. Any thoughts from your heart are welcome here. We re grateful for your presence.
RoseMarie wrote: Patjos this is a wonderful wise and personal post. As you say, we all do kindness instinctively, there are many kindnesses which I have done that are so sacred to me I couldn't share, I guess that's the same for most of us. It is good though to share when we can as it inspires others. It is good too to know that othets read our posts even if they don't comment o them. For the record, I have been off work twice, 6 months at a time with depression. I don't know if you are familiar with my posts but I could not even read an article in a tabloid newspaper because I could not focus on it, family and friends though my depression would never lift, emptying the dishwasher was a chore, I never opened my mail etc etc We will all be delighted if you conine to post with us, just for your info, at the top right of the screen where it says your home address, there is a little box with a number I it this tells you the amount of comments to posts you have. Click on it and you can answer your posts the. Hugs to you. ..good to see you on the challenge x 💓
horsegirl21 wrote: Thank you for your post. Beautifully written and from the heart. I come to KS because you all inspire me to keep on doing the little things that matter, and I don't need to share all of them but just need to keep on doing them. I so love that quote from the Lord of the Rings.
splain wrote: "The purpose of friendships is to help one another grow and mature" That really says so much. KS was my absolute path to becoming myself
Alisamom wrote: This is a wonderful post, I love it! I credit my recovery from depression solely to kind spring and everything I have learned and read here. Some days it's harder to be kind, and some days it's harder to write about being kind. The important thing is to just do it. And when you get discouraged, when you get tired, then you can still be kind to yourself until you rekindle that spark that enables you to be kind to others.
Alisamom wrote: Oh, and also, often I have a hard time writing about my raoks, but I look at it this way: I get so much inspiration here when others post about their acts of kindness, so maybe my posts will also inspire others to do a raok. That's why I share mine.

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