Acts of kindness

Sally_A

Saw this thread linked to on another, it would be a crying shame if this was allowed to fall off current topics: so am bumping it up. surely some of us have done good deeds since February.

Must admit, I've not had a situation arise where I could help out, but have grown veg plants for neighbours, hubby has regularly cut next doors grass at the same time as ours,offered lifts, given a colleague a sub until payday, and generally try to be more tolerant.

Don't be scared to mention your good deeds - it's not bragging, but can give us all a better clue of how we can help out.

amyloofoo

Just had to say - I went to London by myself when I was 15 for my first proper trip away from home all by myself. I was supposed to be staying in a hostel but got really lost on the other side of London following a gig and all the local tube stations were closed. I rang mum on my mobile and was pretty much in tears, with mum and dad sitting on google on the other end of the phone trying to direct me. I stopped a taxi to ask how much it would be to where I was going (I had very little money) and whilst I was asking a stranger came and said he was going in that direction and would drop me off first for free :j Mum and dad were alarmed that their 15 year old daughter was getting in a taxi with a strange man so insisted on talking to him and staying on the phone with me until I was safely back in the hostel.

He was an absolute gentleman, dropped me off safely and handed me a business card when mum and dad insisted I get his details so they could thank him. About a week later they sent him the full taxi fare, but we received this back by return of post with a little note saying he'd been happy to help and didn't need any payment :rotfl:so lovely to know there are such kind people even in such big scary cities.

Oh, and I think my own personal act of kindness has been in not strangling my sister and her boyfriend while they've been staying with me lol (going on for 3 weeks now and I'm about to tear my hair out, but you do for family and a quick hug with my nephew is a great panacea)

meg72

amyloofoo wrote: »

Just had to say - I went to London by myself when I was 15 for my first proper trip away from home all by myself. I was supposed to be staying in a hostel but got really lost on the other side of London following a gig and all the local tube stations were closed. I rang mum on my mobile and was pretty much in tears, with mum and dad sitting on google on the other end of the phone trying to direct me. I stopped a taxi to ask how much it would be to where I was going (I had very little money) and whilst I was asking a stranger came and said he was going in that direction and would drop me off first for free :j Mum and dad were alarmed that their 15 year old daughter was getting in a taxi with a strange man so insisted on talking to him and staying on the phone with me until I was safely back in the hostel.

He was an absolute gentleman, dropped me off safely and handed me a business card when mum and dad insisted I get his details so they could thank him. About a week later they sent him the full taxi fare, but we received this back by return of post with a little note saying he'd been happy to help and didn't need any payment :rotfl:so lovely to know there are such kind people even in such big scary cities.

Oh, and I think my own personal act of kindness has been in not strangling my sister and her boyfriend while they've been staying with me lol (going on for 3 weeks now and I'm about to tear my hair out, but you do for family and a quick hug with my nephew is a great panacea)

Thank you for sharing this lovely story, there are many kind caring people in this world, its a shame that we dont hear more about them, we only tend to hear about the horror stories.

DomRavioli

Just thought I'd add a little more love here!

Today, I was out in my local town when a mum and her son started falling on the escalator on the way to the bus station. Its a pretty good drop, but I managed to catch her son, her and her handbag as well as stay on my feet. A very kind man pressed the emergency stop button, and thankfully noone was hurt, although my arm is a bit sore!

I also used to work in a very large hospital, and was on my way to work one day, when I fell getting off the bus and hit my head on the kerb. the bus driver just drove off (typical eh!), but a passing driver had seen me fall and turned his car around, called me an ambulance and stayed with me until it arrived. the paramedics took his details, and they called him to let him know I was ok apart from stitches and a sore head. I sent him a thankyou card and a token gift, and we still speak now.

There are still some amazing people out there, and they turn up when you least expect them!

WolfSong2000

Just spent ages reading through this thread, but it's been worth it - so many heartwarming stories!

I make a point of trying to help people when I can - for instance when I was a kid I used to regularly visit an elderly neighbour and sit and talk with her. She appreciated it as she was a widow and got lonely, and in return I got regailed with wonderful stories from her time as a landgirl in WW2).

I never cease to be amazed by the kindness and generosity of people. I've made so many good friends through random little events which have happened throughout my life...

At 16, on a school trip to Paris I got separated from the group I was with one evening and to cut a long story short ended up getting sexually assaulted by a Parisian...not one of the nicest moments of my life. Anyhow, got back to the hotel and ran up to the hotel room was sharing with a girl from my college (who I didn't know very well). Opened the door and she was there, along with another girl and a guy from my college - I didn't know any of them and after my ordeal the last thing I wanted was to be around a strange man! Still, he saw I was very obviously upset and bless him, was really, really sweet - he and the girls comforted me, made sure I was okay, etc. He more or less restored my faith in mankind at that moment - don't remember his name, but I do remember his kindness!

Another event that sticks in my mind was when I was working in the USA on a student visa. I was working in Nashville, Tennessee and living with a "friend" who suddenly turned on me, big time. The place I'd been working never paid me, so I was strapped for cash and felt trapped. I confided my fears to an online friend who I'd talked to online for around a decade. She's a Cherokee Indian and lives on the reservation in North Carolina. "No problem", said she. "Just hop on a greyhound bus and come stay with me". So, long story short, I did, and ended up having the most amazing time. She was, and still is, so good to me - I can never repay her kindness. I've been back to stay with her since then and still consider the reservation my "happy place". It's gorgeous and I've so many happy memories of my time spent there!

Which leads me on to my final story....first time in USA when I was 18 - had touched down in Orlando and was getting greyhound bus to Georgia. Had a not very pleasant experience with a drug dealer at the greyhound station (he kept pestering me to look after a holdall he had which he openly admitted contained drugs - I kept refusing and eventually he got the hint!). By the time I got on the bus I was feeling a little scared and not really sure what to make of the whole thing (greyhound bus stations are not fun places to hang out - especially at night!). I ended up sitting next to an elderly gentleman who worked tending golf courses. He was really sweet, and when the bus stopped at a gas station, he asked if I wanted anything I politely declined, but he still came back with a bottle of coca cola and a banana for me - which he paid for himself - to make sure I didn't go without. I'll never forget that small act of kindness

There's a million and one other stories I could share with you guys about random acts of kindness people have bestowed on me - especially in America. it really is the case that you can get talking to a random stranger over there and before the conversation's ended you've been invited to go stay with them - and they mean it!

daisiegg

What a lovely thread! It has left me with tears in my eyes.

I and my family have been on the end of all sorts of surprising kindness. Even the little things can mean so much.

When I was 19 and a uni student I had viral meningitis, and was in a mixed ward in hospital before my parents had got there. I had had a lumbar puncture and wasn't allowed to sit up for 8 hours, but I had (sorry for tmi!) really bad vomiting and diarrhoea. The nurses must have been really stretched and weren't around, and I was young and sick and embarrassed and felt utterly distraught...I will never forget the other people on the ward. One of the women held my hair back and held the cardboard bowl things for me to vomit, one of the men kept fetching me glasses of water and helping me drink them, everyone was talking to me and generally looking after me...and these were other patients, not nurses or hospital staff! It felt a bit like having multiple surrogate parents there before my own parents were able to arrive. I will never, ever forget their kindness.

Also as a student I used to come home through London and I never once carried my suitcase up any stairs - there was always a kindly man who offered to take it for me, every single time. I had thought over the last few years people had got less kind and helpful - but the other day I was at Tottenham Hale and the escalators were broken so the stairs were the only option - before I was about three stairs up a wordless man took my suitcase and carried it for me up the stairs, over the bridge and down the stairs on the other side. I had thought the kindness of strangers had dried up when I was no longer as young and pretty (lol!) but I was obviously wrong.

Over the winter, my little sister (aged 21 but so small and young looking she looks about 14) broke down on the M11 at about 8pm, when it was already dark. It was a really bad night weather wise and she had to wait until about 11pm for the AA to come. She says she couldn't believe how many people stopped to help. Two cars initially stopped and pushed her car into the hard shoulder for her and after that at least one car stopped every 10 mins. One man forced her to take a high vis jacket and wouldn't let her take his address to send it back, someone else gave her some cereal bars and coke, and countless men got under the bonnet and attempted to get the car going for her (uselessly unfortunately, as she needed a whole new clutch!). Our whole family was incredibly moved by the consistent kindness of all the strangers on the M11 that night but have never been able to thank any of them.

There are many more stories but it's time to go to work! I do hope this heartwarming thread continues, though.

19lottie82

A couple of weeks ago I was driving home and had just hit the expressway when I realised I had a flat tyre. Managed to pull in at the first bay, which was next to a park, started to panic as I don’t know how to change a tyre (I know, I know!) . A man saw me, hopped over the fence and changed my tyre, wouldn’t even let me lift the flat back in to the car (in case I got my clothes dirty), and when he realised he needed a screwdriver as one of the bolt caps girps had worn away, he even walked to a neighbouring house to borrow one. I don’t like to judge people but he was a little bit rough looking (late 40s, underweight, tattooed neck, plastic bag full of cheap cans of lager lol), but he was one of the nicest fellas I’ve ever met!

I tried to give him £10 to say thanks so he could say buy himself a pint but he refused to accept it. Said there was no way he could take money for helping a young lassie in distress and just to make sure I did something to help someone else out when they needed it.

Really restored my faith in nice people! J

System

After our daughter died, and on a return visit to find the results of the hospital post mortem, one of the doctors who regularly treated our baby at the Childrens hospital handed my ex a set of keys and a peice of paper with an address on and told him it was his holiday home in Wales and to take as much time as we needed there. We did and the cottage was beautiful.


Such loving kindness. We could have been just anyone! I'll never forget it.

CherryPie

Judi wrote: »

After our daughter died, and on a return visit to find the results of the hospital post mortem, one of the doctors who regularly treated our baby at the Childrens hospital handed my ex a set of keys and a peice of paper with an address on and told him it was his holiday home in Wales and to take as much time as we needed there. We did and the cottage was beautiful.


Such loving kindness. We could have been just anyone! I'll never forget it.

Just found this thread but I have to say, this story has left me holding back the tears and smiling at the same time. What a wonderful gesture in your time of need

:A

*Robin*

CherryPie wrote: »

Just found this thread but I have to say, this story has left me holding back the tears and smiling at the same time.

Me too!

Reading this thread brought back a very early memory of the kindness of strangers:
At the age of three, I was living with my Grandparents in Birmingham. One day Grandpa took me 'into town' and it wasn't long before nature called.
It was one of those Victorian underground conveniences, so Grandpa gave me a big old-fashioned penny and told me he'd be waiting for me at the top of the steps. I remember reaching up to hold the hand-rail as I walked carefully down into the green and cream-tiled, disinfectant-smelling toilets.
I put my penny in the slot, went in and did my business, then discovered that the door would not unlock. I burst into tears - that had never happened when I was with Mum - but within moments someone put another penny in the slot and let me out. I was surrounded by kindly faces who comforted me, wiped away my tears, and then turned in fury on the attendant when she returned - she should not have left her post.

Outside Grandpa could hear the commotion but of course would not have dreamed of entering the 'Ladies', so he waited until my rescuer brought me safely back to him. She was a vast Jamaican lady, the first non-white person I'd met and I'd fallen in love with her the moment she swept me into her arms as the toilet door opened. I remember thinking her voice was like music, and I was amazed at her brightly coloured voluminous dress.
Grandpa took us both to a Lyons tea room where I was given a frothy chocolate milk-shake. Grandpa presented the lady with a huge box of cream cakes to take home when we parted.

Today no-one would send an unaccompanied three-year-old into a public lavatory even if they were standing by the only exit, but in 1961 I was quite safe (and like most three year olds then, capable of using the toilet without help).

Looking back, that was an important lesson. I have tried to pass on that kindness where I could, and appreciate those who have gone out of their way for me.