Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Today I came across an amazing story of a kindness chain in action. This happened in a small town in California, but has spread ripples much farther. It was written and shared by Robert Langdon, an employee at the store where it happened - these are his words:

With all the hate, bitterness and pettiness going on in this nation today, I wanted to share what has turned out to be one of the top 10 days of my entire life.

I work for Vons in Bishop and today we had a bunch of military personnel come in to the store on their way to Bridgeport. A customer came to me and said that she wanted to buy all of their purchases. All of them! She asked how it could be done so that she could be anonymous.

I told her that she could purchase a gift card and that I would open up a register and just ring all of them up on the one ticket. She agreed and wondered about how much of a card to buy, $500 or $600? In looking around and seeing that they were just buying sandwiches and drinks, I thought that was way too much and she ended up purchasing one for $300 and if there was anything left, she would come back in at a later date to pick it up.

I opened a register and announced over the intercom for all military personnel to come through check stand #1. The customer quickly left the store. As the young men and women began to come through with their purchases, they all had their wallets out and I got to tell them that all their purchases were paid for! The gratitude and amazement on all their faces was a priceless experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I let them know where the generosity came from and they all said thank you and each and every one of them addressed me as, Sir.

As it turns out, that was only a small portion of the military that was about to enter our store. They just kept coming and kept coming. Other members of our community saw what was going on and that the tab had easily surpassed the $300 and began handing me money to cover the rest.

I could barely hold back the tears as I was checking these fine young soldiers out. This community showed that there is still a tremendous amount love and support for our country and the people who serve it. And all the while, I got to feel like Santa Claus!

The total tab ended up well over double what that amazing customer started with her contribution and after accepting the rest of the funds from the other generous donations, there was still a balance of over $230 which was quickly picked up by Vons employees.

This experience gave me such a sense of warmth and faith in humanity, I want to share it with as many people as possible. I only have a dozen Facebook friends so I would love it if you dozen friends would share this with all your friends and not let this act of kindness go essentially unnoticed.

Thank you and God bless America

In two days, this story was shared over 4,000 times on Facebook. And here is Robert's comment:

Thank you to all of you who shared, commented or gave a thumbs up! This is exactly what I wanted to happen. That lady's single act of kindness filled that store and the hearts of all the people who witnessed it with warmth, love and kindness. I was hoping there was a way for more people to share in that fantastic emotion and from the comments that I've read and the amount of times this story has been shared, you guys have provided that forum. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!