Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Walking Kindness


--by guin, posted Jan 19, 2007

I was pretty inspired after reading this story here : http://www.helpothers.org/story.php?sid=6023

For the past one week,I have been going on "service walks" every day.I just walk around for a couple of kilometres, looking out for ways to help people.

So far I have handed out warm lunches to two old homeless men on the sidewalk, a loaf of bread to another, shared cake with a bunch of little kids at a fishing village, given fruits to a group of about 16 people who were homeless and afflicted by leprosy, and boxes of peanut candy for two kids of the juice vendor who I'm friendly with.

 I feel that in a poor country like India the tradition of anna-daanam or sharing food is one of the best ways to help others. Although at one level it may seem like a quick fix solution, I have tried to be thoughtful and careful on these walks, especially since a lot of people here feel insulted if you offer them food, etc.

When I offered food to a homeless man, he hesitantly asked me if I could also give him the plastic cover in which I had carried the meal. This had a huge impact on me, much more than any positive impact I could ever wish to make in his life.

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Readers Comments

Wayfarer wrote: Guin, your stories humble me and the world seems a brighter place for knowing you are in it.
Doclove wrote: I am going to start talking service walks in NYC!
bubinu wrote: where i live in malta we dont really have homeless people,but i always help people even by trying to make him feel important.but you are doing a great thing,hope your bag will always will be full so you keep on helping others.
markiejay wrote: A gift of food is such an essential, universal, intimate experience that it cannot help but show us our common humanity when we participate, either as giver or recipient.

Here's an easy way to ensure that you have this same experience regularly, especially if you dine in restaurants in places like the US, where portions are often too large for a single person to finish or bread is left on the table: ask them to box it for take-out, and give it to the first person you see who might need it.
MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: I think the simplest things done can be great. No matter how small the act, it always matters.
earthling wrote: Service walks are a great way to remember 'it is ourselves that we are helping'
Ginny wrote: What a great idea, just by walking a aournd a little you found a lot to people to help.

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