Stories of Kindness from Around the World

I spent last summer volunteering at a hospital. It was a gift to meet so many amazing people and I’d like to share one of these moments. One day, I was paged up to a room where an elderly woman was staying. Usually I helped with discharging patients, but she wasn’t ready to leave. Instead, she wanted to go to the gift shop. I got a wheelchair, helped her into it, and we headed down to the lobby.

When we got there, it wasn’t open yet. It was only a 30 minute wait so we went over to the waiting area and I read her bits and pieces of the newspaper aloud. After 30 minutes, we went to the gift shop. As I pushed her around, I could see the joy in her face as she looked at everything, happy to be out of her room. She chose some window decorations, and then saw chocolates. She asked me to push her in that direction, and then I helped her look through all the different chocolate arrangements. She eventually decided on three different boxes.

As she was paying for everything, she asked the cashier for a sharpie, then turned to me. She told me to write the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on the boxes. She explained that the nurses were taking such good care of her, so she bought chocolates for each of the three shifts of nurses who were taking care of her. After, I wheeled her back up to her room. As we gave the current shift of nurses their box of chocolate, they in turn offered some to me before taking some themselves.

There were smiles all around. Witnessing her selflessness and getting the opportunity to spend time with someone who got so much joy from life was a gift in itself. I left her that day in awe of the kindness I’d just witnessed. I have so many more stories, and each person made an impact on my life. I’ve learned that health has a way of bringing people together. Health is a blessing, and being in a place where that is so valued and appreciated is unlike anything else.