Acts of kindness

joolzpop

I really believe in Karma too. I went through a period in my life of feeling really bitter because first somebody who I was trying to help get back on the right track conned me and stole £1700 from me, then my credit card was stolen and £5500 run up on it whilst I was in hospital. I was treated appallingly by the bank involved and sent a number of threatening letters. They seemed to be implying that I was involved or could just sort it out myself, which I couldn't as I had nowhere near the means to pay the debt off. They kept adding interest to the debt and refused to freeze it - I was getting a letter or phone call almost every day. I became so depressed by their relentless pressure I was suicidal.

One day I went to a football match to cheer myself up. Before I did I went to the bank. The girl at the counter, who seemed really harrassed, gave me £40 too much. At first I saw this as a bit of good fortune but then I started worrying that the lass would get in trouble and her pay would be docked. I walked the mile back to the bank and told her. She was so grateful and said she had already been given a warning for being late (for family reasons) and would probably have got sacked. I got to the football ground at one minute to three. In those days I always used to buy a club lottery ticket for a pound from the same seller. On this occasion I was late so he'd gone. Just as I was about to enter the turnstile I spotted another seller and bought her last ticket. At half time the lottery number was drwan and I found I had won the first prize of £500 and a VIP family trip to the football. It may just have been coincidence but it made me feel a lot better at a time when I had almost stopped trusting people.

Feline2001

This thread is so lovely - qwith all the crap that's going on in the world lately it's good to know that there are some fantastic people still out there!

Martin that offer to Oregon is so kind - I knew I loved you for a reason!!!!

A Few acts of kindness in my life - firstly before I can even remember when I was a baby! Mum was a single parent and unemployed as she wanted to be at home to look after me. We were driving up to my grandparents in snowy icy weather when the car broke down. Luckily we were near houses so mum knocked on a door to ask to use the phone to call her dad (this was wayyy before mobiles!) it was about 8pm and she was worried when a little old lady answered the door, thinking the woman would be spooked by a late evening call in the dark - but explained what had happened, the lady invited her in and made her a cup of tea and let her use the phone. Mum insisted on going back out to wait for help after she'd made the call - but the lady and her husband wouldnt let her take me out as it was freezing cold so her and her husband looked after me until help came. When it was time to go they refused to let mum leave any money as a thank you - so mum slipped it under their phone - a few days later we got a letter through the card saying how much they'd enjoyed having me - and with the money in it that mum had left. Mum decided that she'd send them a boots voucher instead as it may be better for them to accept than money - I think she sent a £5 one - which in those days was a lot more money than it is now - especially for someone on benefits...then in the post she received a £5 box of lego for me from Boots from them!!!!!

Also, this has been a very, very tough year in this household - my fiance was diagnosed with Lymphoma (cancer) and needed chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant which meant a 3 week stay in hospital - an hours drive from where we live! As I don't drive it could have been an awful time, except my mum, his mum and my aunt came up individually yto stay with me, help me scrub the house - and take me to visit him daily, which meant so very very much to us both. Also - every other Tuesday I do a day's training at a local club with my dog for Competitive Obedience. While he was in hospital it happened to fall on the middle day of the 3 day period I had to spend alone - I'd got the train to the hospital the other 2 days, but was seriously stressed (I have depression and struggle with public transport at the best of times) and to be honest needed a day off from the whole thing, and feeling as icky as he did he needed a day to sleep and not worry about visitors - so someone I knoew from the dog training picked me up took me and then brought me home again afterwards - she also gave me a huge hug which I was desperately in need of - both whn she picked me up and another when she dropped me off. Then after he was home a couple of weeks she drove for 10 mins to pick me up - took me back passed her's to her local dog show where I had a very pleasent day then brought me home again afterwards - she[d accept no petrol money but I bought her a botttle of wine for it!


Earlier in the year we'd pulled into a car park and found a wallet on the floor - he took it into the shop and handed it in and came back to the car, just as a young lad (18 ish) and his dad wondered over to where we were parked - we asked them if they'd lost something and they said yes, a wallet - so we explained we'd found it and taken it to the shop - they were sooooo happy and grateful!!!

em2007

well, i now feel warm and fuzzy inside! this thread has restired my faith in 'stranger kindness'. I don't have any big stories to tell. only small acts like giving the person in front of me the change they need, for shopping or parking etc. I do remember one time, when I was at college. we were doing some fundraising in the local town centre. Our class had been split into small groups with a little competition as to who could raise the most money. We were dressed in pyjamas, shaking buckets, when a woman came past. Instead of throwing money in like other people she placed her hand right down into the bucket which seemed a little strange, and walked off. When we looked in she had left £100 in notes rolled up at the bottom. that definately gave us a big boost and made our day!!

I shall now make it my mission to help people wherever possible, hopefully this rumour of Karma is true lol

hollister1983

Some of these stories have really made me think, and have a silent blub, lol!

Almost four years ago now, I had a very serious accident on the motorway. Luckily, no other vehicles were involved and I have no idea how, but I was unharmed. On the other hand, my car was a write off. By the time my car ran out of momentum on the hard shoulder, a lovely family stopped and helped me. I was in total shock and couldn't really function but the lady got me out of my car and put me in the front seat of their car. I was rambling and only after I had uttered a few indelicate words at my stupidity for crashing did I realise their small chid was sat in the back. They helped me call the police and my partner (luckily I wasn't far from home) and then my insurance. They waited with me until the highways agency men arrived and then went on their way. I realised I hadn't even really thanked them properly because I was still in shock. I stood waiting for the recovery truck for at least half an hour when all of a sudden, the family turned up again. I couldn't believe it but I had left my car keys in their car. They had got a good way to their destination before realising and coming all the way back. Needless to say, they got a big bunch of flowers and a card in the post not long after that and even that didn't really feel enough for their support at a really traumatic time.

On top of this, the Highways Agency men who came to my aid were due to clock off but waited an extra 45mins for the recovery truck to collect me and what was left of the car so I didn't have to stand there on my own.

On my part, I tried to pay this back by helping a cyclist that I saw being hit by a car. Unfortunately, I was too shocked by what I was seeing to to get the reg of the car that hit him because it was a hit and run. The cyclist was very shaken and because he was upset, he was initially quite rude to me but he let me make sure he was physically ok and I waited until his spouse picked him up.

gemlcoleman

The ones that come to mind for me actually happened last year in Australia on a special 30th birthday holiday.

Getting the bus (as a MSE-er!) from brisbane to the coast in time to catch a ferry to an island off brisbane. All going to plan til we realise 30 seconds after stepping off the bus, the other half had left his backpack on it - with his hat, camera and car keys in it! Panicked as no way of getting home from heathrow - liverpool without those car keys!

So, whilst making (not so MSE!) mobile calls to the bus company, we wait for the next bus in the hopes it will follow the next one to a bus depot. In fact it turned a corner and then the bus driver said - last stop - in suburban street! Bus driver asked us what was up, we explained, he called control but they explained it would take a few days for the bag - if no-one had nicked it - to make its way to lost and found. The bus driver then proceeded to take us back to where we had got on (even though he wasnt supposed to be going that way) so we could try to make the ferry.

So we get back to the bus stop then have to run wih our suitcases through some industrial estate to try to make the ferry when a car pulls over and this man says 'are you going to the ferry terminal?", and tells us were agess away, to get in and he will give us a lift. We did (my mum wasn't pleased when i told her this story!), and just about made the ferry with minutes to spare.

BTW the bag wasn't pinched and we were able to pick it up in Brisbane when we got back.

All in all we found lots of australians to be super helpful and friendly (people chat to you even when at a petrol station) - which we were surprised about - we thought they would all be calling us poms! Simple small things that you realise just don't happen that often in this country. Imagine a bus driver here going off his route to help you out!

Rachb2

This thread is brilliant, and it's made me all emotional. A couple of posts have mentioned paying it forward and I have a story that encompasses that.

It starts off a bit sad, but gets better. Unfortunately my Dad passed away in 2008, he was only 57 and it was very sudden. It left the family reeling and I, as the eldest child sort of stepped in and got everyone rallied round. I felt I couldn't really lean on anyone for support because I was so busy being strong for them so I dealt with my grief by keeping busy. On thing that I started was my family tree, which my Dad had always been interested in, but we had never found anything out. Anyway I researched away and got right back to my 4xgreatgrandparents. I was stuck for ages and then when on ancestry noticed that my tree matched someone else and so I sent them a message.

This started a lovely e-mail exchange back and forth between myself and a lady in Canada who was the widow of what would have been my 3rd cousin. She was quite a bit older than myself but we got along like a a house on fire and shared lots of resources and information.

A year or so later I got sent to Canada for work and mentioned to this lady that I would be coming and my Mum would be joining me to do the coast to coast trip on the train, which was something her and Dad had always wanted to do. Well my friend insisted we should visit her and by the time the trip came round she had organised for someone to pick us up from Toronto and drive us the hour to her place (turns out they were relatives too), she had organised a huge family reunion with over 50 members of the family, some of which had never met each other before. She also put us up for the night in her home, let us do our washing, fed us and took us sightseeing the next day all round Niagara Falls. She wouldn't take a penny from us (although we did sneakly buy her meals in most places) and told us that she was paying forward the kindness she had been shown when she came on a family tree trip to England.

She really made our trip very special and it's fantastic to know that someone you have never met before can be so kind and welcoming. I now have lots of extended family members in Canada and I expect I shall be paying forward the great kindness shown to me when they make the trip to the UK....and I can't wait to do it...the world would be a much happier place with more people like this!

bobble_hat

A few of the other posts have sparked a memory of mine, but I don't know who to thank so I'm doing it here, and I'll pass it forward.

In 1998 I had a very bad year, my Dad died after being diagnosed with lung cancer in the September, then in the November I was driving my BIL's car when I was hit head-on by joyriders. I was knocked unconscious but have a memory of being sat in what I thought was the car I had been driving, looking at blood dripping into my gloves, thinking, we must have been hit. It turns out that I'd been taken out of my car by my passengers as there was petrol leaking everywhere and a passing motorist had insisted on me being sat in their car.

I never found out who they were as I was in no state to know what was happening, but I thank them wholeheartedly for their kindness that day. I did make a full recovery.

Whilst recovering, I lost my purse during a trip into town, a lovely lady found it and phoned me, we were able to collect it the next day, I bought her a big box of chocolates. I had very little money and was living at my sisters house, so losing my purse whilst I was unable to earn and in a great deal of pain and still eating through a straw would have been a final straw.

So thank you to all those who find things and hand them back, it can mean the difference between a person having the strength to carry on or not. (I hope I have made a difference to people just be being helpful and returning lost items).

thriftyemma

I once listed some reusable terry cloth baby wipes on freecycle. Lovely lady heavily pregnant with first child replied, and we arranged for her to pick them up a couple of days later. She then emailed me to say she was not well, unable to collect the wipes, and to pass them on to someone else. As she only lived 10 minutes from me, I offered to drop them off. She was so grateful, she gave me a bottle of wine and some little toys for my children to say thank you!

My random act of kindness for today... I was reading the thread, got to this post, and took myself off to the Anthony Nolan website to register. Don't know if I'll eventually be successful, but medically I fit the criteria.

whitewing wrote: »

I'd also like to say I am so grateful to our lovely people over on the Marriages/Families forum for signing up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register. I only put the post on last night and so far 6 people have signed up, others have tried but don't fit current criteria, and others are spreading the word.

NeverAgain_2

All the talk of wine and chocolates in this thread is doing nothing for my resolve to cut down on such things.

netz_2

it's so lovely to read such stories showing the much kinder side of life. We experienced some fantastic kindness from friends this year too. After a really stressfull year and knowing that we really don't have much in the way of spare money (obviously, seeing as I am on this thread) offered to take our son on holiday with them - we would be doing them a favour they told us as it would give their child someone to play with seeing as they were only going on a simple camping holiday in Wales. Turns out that holiday was one of the best my son has ever been on, loads of playing football, trips to the zoo, and adventure farm, a quad biking trip in fact a full week of treat filled fun. They wouldn't accept a penny from us towards the holiday only suggesting that we share one of my OH's fantastic curries whilst going though the tons of photos they took whilst away. They gave my son a holiday he thoroughly enjoyed and at the same time me and OH got a week together where we could really talk and actually gave us the time to discuss future hopes and dreams leading us at least in part to coming on here and starting to get our financial act together. Sometimes you just get so caught up in life that you lose track of where you are, our friends random act of kindness has really helped us see the light.