Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Befriending a Bully With Kindness

During the first week of of my second semester sophmore year, the first thing I happen to hear is that there's a new kid at school.  From what was being spread around, this student was being portrayed as a big mean bully, someone that was expelled for getting in a fight at a school nearby. In my mind, though, I could only think how awful and how uncomfortable I would feel as a new student with a reputation already set out for me. So the next thing I did was I searched for the new student.  I ran all over campus to find and locate him, until I found him, head sulked down and with a weary expression upon his face.  Without hesitating, I approached him, introduced myself and asked him if he was new to the campus and if he needed any help getting around.  With a relief, he ... Read Full Story >>

Old Man on a Bicycle

Kindness acts are a great excuse to believe in ourselves and our world. Once I had been invited for the lunch at one of my relatives house. My aunty gave me the address and told me to come to her house for the my meal, until I got settled into the new city.  In trying to get to her house, I gost lost and was despearately looking for help on the lonely roads for more than half an hour.  In a bit, I saw a old man on bicycle.  I didn't want to stop him but I had no choice so I asked him for the address; he explained the route but it just didn't sink in; I was so tired of hunting around for the place and at this point, I was super hungry and thirsty too.  Well, that old man was a dear soul.  Seeing the frustration and ... Read Full Story >>

Carrier Bag Angel

Last Saturday on a shopping trip I noticed a lady with four carrier bags come out of the store and walk to the bus stop.  That particular bus goes my way so I thought I would ask her if she wanted a lift with it being a chilly day and the weekend service being a bit sparce.

She most gladly excepted.  Chatting on the way, she revealed she was a cartaker for her sick husband and elderly mother.  One of the highlights of her week is the flower arranging she does at church. 

Despite the daily grind that this lady had to endure, she had such a positive and cheerful outlook in thinking of others to brighten up their lives with flowers.  It made me think how we are surrounded by angels in the most unexpected forms.   She was so thankful for my little help. I gave her a big hug and said she had made my day.

A big thanks to all caretakers out there.

We Got Tagged Ourselves!

My fiancé and I were having breakfast at a neighborhood diner Saturday morning.  When were requested our check the waitress said that “our friends” paid for our breakfast.  We asked who and she smiled and walked away.  We looked around the restaurant to see if maybe someone was smiling at us but we didn’t catch anyone’s eye.  So we assumed they wanted to be anonymous.  My fiancé looked at me and said, “Wow those smile cards really work”.  We both laughed and smiled at each other for awhile.   We have really enjoyed dropping smile cards on unsuspecting folks.  It has been fun and it has put a smile on our face more than once.  It was an odd feeling to have someone do it to us.  It was just a little strange to walk out of that restaurant looking around like, ok…who dunnit?  :)   What a beautiful world we live in.  Thank ... Read Full Story >>

Smile Poems (and my First Smile Card)

I decided to make cards with smile poems in them, just blank greeting cards I found in the closet. After writing smile poems, I taped smile cards inside. 

My friend and I were walking around town and decided to get coffee at one of those really tiny coffee shops they have randomly around town. The cashier/server was really sweet, like a genuine sweet, not a fake one. So after she gave us our coffee I took out a smile greeting card thing and gave it to her, and told her to read it.

She didn't read it until after she served another customer, giving us time to be far enough away not to see her reaction. More fun that way. :)

The Gift That Comes Around

During the holidays, our company gives it employees gift certificates to use in thier stores and for a few years now I've received these gift certificates from fellow employees because they know that I use them to help others.  It's a  great way to get your co-workers involved! Anyway, we always have a full store and people shop there to help others, and this day I got to help them help others. A young pastor and his wife were shopping and asked if we could somehow give him a deal because he was buying clothes for 10 people in his church and needed help himself, so I told him I would go and speak with my manager and see what we could do. Being that we work with donated goods, we were able to help him a little and then I remembered the gift certificates that I had in my purse and gave ... Read Full Story >>

Casserole For My Friend

My girlfriend at work is going through a rough time. Both parents are sick and recently moved in with her. She has two teenage children that are involved in sports and music. So she is constantly running here and there and on demand.  

I couldn't believe my ears when she told me that she had volunteered to teach Religious Ed classes in her home on Wednesday nights for the next 6 weeks ... which happened to be the next day.  I was thinking about her on the way home that night and wondering if she was in her car on the way to some sport event or music lessons.

Then I thought that it would be nice if I made a quick dinner casserole for her family for the next night since she would be having the Religious Ed class in her home. I brought it to work in the morning and she was thrilled and thanked me many times for thinking of her and her family.  They were getting a little tired of eating fast food and pizza and it was going to be nice to eat a warm homemade dinner.

Sunglasses in the Custodian Closet

I'm new to the Smile Cards, but here's my first experience with the cards. I work in a school and after all the kids are gone for the day a sweet young lady  Claire comes in to clean the school classrooms and offices. I'm there late once a week and I often chat for a few minutes with her.  She always makes me feel so good because she's not full of herself and instead she wants to hear about me or will talk about her children.  Our conversations are always great.  Last week she wasn't her happy self and told me how her husband had lost his job of 15 years and that she didn't know what they would do without his income. I wanted to cheer her up some how, but couldn't think of anything at that time. Later that week I was in a department store I noticed all the pretty summer clothing ... Read Full Story >>

New Way to Give to Homeless

When a homeless person is standing on the side of the highway, holding up a cardboard sign asking for money, many people simply look away ignore the person.

I know that sometimes I am hesitant to give away money to people on the street, and sometimes I simply can't get out my wallet in time. However, a really easy thing to do is purchase gift certificates for small amounts from places like McDonalds. They offer $1 gift slips there. Buy 10 or 20 of these and keep them in your glove compartment.

The next time you see someone in need, simply hand them a few and encourage them to go get a hot coffee and a burger. This way you know they will get a decent meal and you know they won't use them to buy other things.

Another simple idea is to hand them a granola bar and a juice box. Little things, but they might just keep someone alive another day!

The Joys of Being a Waitress

As a waitress you meet and see all types of people.  I guess you could call it the melting pot of the highway because the food connects us all. I was about to end my shift one afternoon when a group of people came in.  As they sat down, they explained that they were trying to make it home and just had enough to buy their children a small snack and that all they needed was water. So I showed them a few things on the menu and asked them what they would like. As I walked away to turn in their order, I just couldn't see this family leaving hungry with a snack and some water!  So I asked some friends to join me in helping this family and they agreed because they know how I am when it comes to helping others and it gives them the fuzzy feeling of ... Read Full Story >>

Act Quickly on Good Intentions

Last week I was asked to go open the church for one of our members. It was a good warm day, so I decided to walk. 

On the way home I had to pass the home of a neighbor that I knew was in the last stage of cancer. I decided to stop and see how the family was doing.

That was on Monday. Friday the neighbor passed away. That made me realize how important it is to act upon those good intentions we have in our hearts.

Helping Sally Swim

Each year I volunteer at a camp for children with asthma. Having the condition myself, I went there myself as a camper, then became a counselor when I was of age.  This camp is an wonderful place that I could spend days talking about - it does amazing things to the kids who go through the program. I've met a multitude of unforgettable individuals there, but one child definitely stands out. One year, as a Senior Counselor, I was in charge of one Teams for games and activities. On the first day, the camp director came to talk to me, leading a small girl. For the purposes of this story, I will call her Sally. She was adorable, vivacious, smart, funny, and about 9 years old. And, in additon to asthma, she had sickle cell disease. This meant I had ... Read Full Story >>

Walking Boots

The other day we heard this story about a man with four children who loved walking.

He noticed that everyone's walking boots were really dirty. So, later that night when everyone had gone to bed he went downstairs and cleaned them completely with water and a scrubbing brush. Then he waxed them all and left them out on the kitchen table to be discovered in the morning.

When his children asked him about it, he said that it must have been Waxclean, the good fairy of walking boots!