Stories of Kindness from Around the World

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 was in college and she had just attempted suicide. He started crying.
 
I told him to pull over.  We were going though a park, so he did.
 
He told me the story.  She was doing poorly in school and felt she didn't belong.  He couldn't pay the medical bills so he had to moonlight as a cabbie.  He didn't know what to do as a father, he wanted to help and make it ok for her.  He couldn't and it was killing him.
 
I listened to him for a few hours.  I didn't talk, just listened.  He did not pause.
 
When he did stop, I asked him how much he earns in a day.  
 
He told me.  I wrote him a check and told him to go home and spend time with his daughter.
 
He said he was afraid of just making her feel worse.  I had an idea...  
 
We drove back to my apt.  I went up and came back with a few choice selections of my favorite Britcoms (Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Vicar of Dibley, Thin Blue Line, Are you Being Served).  I've watched these shows my entire life, in good times, especially in bad times. 
 
I told him to sit down and watch them with his daughter.  Laugh at them.  Just be together, as long as it takes.
 
He smiled and shook my hand.  Didn't say anything.  I don't think he had any words left.
 
I went upstairs and climbed into bed.  I called my husband, told him his love made me a better person.  I called my parents and thanked them for watching Britcoms with me.  I slept the whole day.  I quit my job that month.
 
My little act of kindness was to donate a few DVDs of comedic gold and some money in exchange for a fresh new perspective on life.  
 
I didn't change this guy's life, was just an ear when he needed someone.  
 
But he surely changed mine.

(Source - http://www.quora.com/Altruism/How-does-human-kindness-change-the-world-and-enlighten-us​)