Stories of Kindness from Around the World

What Goes Around Comes Around

I was at pita pit and decided that I would spread some kindness by paying for two drinks for the next customers. I left the person at the counter money for two drinks and two smile cards.  I told him to give the drink to somebody who doesn't purchase a drink and to also give it to two people who are not related.

I felt good about myself and felt even better later that night.  Later that night I went to grab slice of pizza for dinner.  After paying for the drink, I decided that I needed a drink as well.  When I told the cashier which drink I wanted and went to pay for the drink, the cashier said  "Don't worry about it".  I confirmed what he said and said thank you and walked away in awe.

After walking around the corner, did I realize what had happened.  I went back in the store and gave the person a smile card for that kind gesture.

Who would have known that karma works that fast.

Actions Speak Loud

D was sitting alone in the University canteen and eating.  D is generally known as a rich spoilt brat always driving around in fancy cars and hitting the nightclubs.  D is the hardened sort who doesn't believe in really caring about others in general. A sits down with D, who is not a very close friend or anything. A buys 2 plates of food,  thinking she is very hungry. A and D keep chatting about various things like music, their careers and classes  and then A finds out that she's pretty full just by eating the first plate.  A acts with thoughtfulness and packs up the untouched second plate.  When D looks puzzled,  A  explains that she'd like to give the food to some hungry homeless person. D and A giggle at the way the packing is being done and then in a moment of poetry, D tells A that he is really touched to see things like this happen.  ... Read Full Story >>

When I was a Homeless Teenager

When I was a teenager trying to get away from a bad home life,  I ended up from the streets to the doors of Covenant house of NYC.

They gave us a place to stay, health, social, mental services.  We had food and even clothing.

I remember being a big girl thankful for the few things they could find for me in the clothing room.

Now that I am a grown woman I wanted to do something special for them.  I put up signs in my neighborhood collecting all types of clothing.

After about 6 months of collecting, I had 10 giant garbage bags full of clothes.

I was able to make an appointment to see the building.  Going through it all again was really an experience.  Seeing the changes, seeing the advancement.  Seeing how it was so different now.  But they still had the same purpose.

It made my heart feel very good.

We're All In This Together

I read a lot of spirit and intention books. I remember reading Wayne Dyer one night and in his Power of Intention book, he wrote something along the lines of if you can’t give a homeless person money, give him a smile. The other day I was waiting for the light to change in downtown San Francisco and there was a homeless guy who was walking around with his sign and he went from car to car (I was the 3rd one in). The cars reacted as they usually do, just closing the windows and ignoring him, one car moved up, you know the drill. As he came to my car, I looked him in the eye and I gave him a HUGE smile, I said I’m sorry I can’t give you money and he just stood there smiling at me. There was probably a 10 second pause before the light turned ... Read Full Story >>

Use of Smile Cards Pays a Surprise Dividend

The second time I used my smile cards was to  pay for the sunday newspapers for 2 senior citizens that come into a nice, clean,  little breakfast place every Sunday early in the morning, just to pick up the Sunday newspaper.  I got in very early that morning and  I handed the card to the owner with some money to cover the 2 newspapers and I said I wanted to pay for the 2 sunday papers that the older people pick up every sunday.  "If you'd please give them this card when you tell them"  is what I said.  She looked at the card and with a half smile and asked if I had any more cards. I said I did and I gave her about 20 from my stash in the car before I left. Today, about 10 days later, I went in for breakfast with my son. A few minutes after we started eating, a ... Read Full Story >>

Just a card

My son and I sat down the other day and wrote a card to send to his Nan and Pop.  We do generally see them every week but they were having a particularly bad week so I decided we would send them a special card.

The night they received it, we got a phone call to say what a lovely surprise and how it had brightened their day.  Nan had a good chat with my son, and my son loved talking about the card and picture he had drawn.

A simple gesture but it allowed my son and I to let two people we love know it!

I Just Can't Stop Smiling!

I haven't smiled this much in a long time.  I am reading many stories leaving comments and getting great ideas for Random Acts of Kindness.

I didn't even realize that I was smiling and feeling so good until I sat back and broke out in a big WIDE smile.  I feel so good and I wanted to write about it because within less than 48 hours I feel my life has changed.

I have always been one to give RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness)  usually without thinking about it.  But now I feel better because I have a plan.  I am doing things on purpose.  Makes me feel good to have a purpose in life other than work and paying the bills.

I feel I am doing things now to counter act the negativity that comes at me.  As long as i have RAOK to do then I am ok.

I Thank everyone for there stories.  I Thank HELP OTHERS for making this a place where we can come share. 

And guess what I am going to thank you right now.  Yes you who is taking the time to read this.  Because this is why i wrote it for YOU!

ARE YOU SMILING YET!

Raqui

Widening the Circle of Compassion

My friends and I are now going to part soon since my life as an undergraduate is coming to an end.  Today one of my friends told me that she would never forget the time she came along with me to a home for senior citizens near my college.

She wanted to make another trip before we left.  It was amazing.  As we listened to people like our granparents - just spoke and laughed with them.  It was amazing how much this little time seemed to lift their spirits.

The funny thing is never before in her life has my friend been into conscious acts of service, although her everyday kindness lights up people's lives.  So she truly said she felt joyful after this trip we made- widening the circle of compassion.

For the Children

My daughter was admitted into the hospital ward for testing.  During her stay, I noticed the very old VCR, movies, broken books, and old game systems with poor controllers. What really broke my heart was when they wheeled the VCR into my daughter's room and some of the videos were missing out of the cases.  The little boy who made friends with my daughter was upset because his favorite movie was missing. The Nurse went to find out if the movies were misplaced.  When she returned, she said the movies were missing. Missing I asked? "Oh yeah," she said "things go missing here all the time.  We just got a couple of new movies and they disappeared with in a couple of days." This made me very sad,  I knew it wasn't children sneaking out VCR tapes.  Parents  and vistors had to be behind it.  The few things they had to entertain the children were given by ... Read Full Story >>

Buzzing Around

My nephew  dreaded the very idea of entering the hospital and was required to have surgery. My brother likened his son's trauma to being dragged across the parking lot.

I was building costumes for a children's theater at the time and had access (with permission) to their inventory. With a smile and the blessing of the artistic director I borrowed a black bee costume complete with dilly boppers and a huge round tumbly with big wide yellow stripes running horizontally across it.

Knowing of my nephew's plight I quickly put on my costume complete with the belly touching the steering wheel and drove directly to the hospital. After dodging onlookers on the elevator I headed straight for little Paul's room.
The mood changed. Paul's frown was now upside down and I was required to buzz around and cheer up others at my nephew's request.

Touched by another's caring

We were recently married at our church, New Hope Hilo on Valentine's Day. It was a small service, a few friends, couple of family members and Pastor Aaron performed the service. We did notice that there was one girl who was taking pictures and we thought that they might be showing them to the congregation at a future service but we were way off base. The Pastor's wife, Carlen made a wedding scrapbook that words just cannot describe. The detail of the handmade items, the imagination, the love was overwhelming for us. At Sunday's service, Pastor Aaron was speaking about how at our church we have breakfast after all 3 services and he and his wife were eating. When they finished someone came up and cleared their table for them throwing away the rubbish. He was touched by the act and the love this person expressed.   After service, we shared how ... Read Full Story >>

A bag of kindness

Shopping is a chore, bagging the food is even worse. I personally have a system.  My daughter would grab an empty cart and start to make double bags to put the food in. By the time the food was paid for and I was ready to bag my food, we would have a giant pile of double bags which we always used up. One day behind me were two elderly women.  As I was bagged my food, I noticed how hard it was one for the woman to pull money out of her wallet.  How was she going to bag her groceries? I told my daughter to continue making double bags. Of course she looked at me like I was crazy because we had so many already.  But I told her to make more. After bagging my things, I just continued to bag the groceries for the elderly ladies.  At first she said "Oh miss ... Read Full Story >>

A trip to the grocery store

I was driving to the grocery store with my sister and her baby boy.  We had a long list of food to buy and knew that her son's patience was only going to last a short while.  We were in the middle of a fun conversation when I noticed that the car in front of us was not moving and the stoplight had turned green.  At first, I was somewhat agitated because we had been waiting for about 10 seconds and the car was not moving forward.   When it was safe, I proceded to pull into the other lane and pass the car in front of us that had not moved.  As I glanced over at the car, I saw a lady who was practically in tears she was so frustrated.  She was driving a newer SUV and it was obvious that she was embarrased and needed some help.  I ... Read Full Story >>

In memory of all the mother/daughter outings I miss

During National Random Acts of Kindness Week, I bought a $20 gift certificate at  a really nice breakfast/lunch restaurant.  I put the certificate in a gift card with a "just because"  message and a Random Act card asking them to pass on the kindness.  No addressee on the envelope, but in the return address corner, "A Random Act of Kindness." I prayed for Divine Guidance to be led to just the right person. At the end of the week, I was having Sunday brunch at another restaurant ( I don't cook, can you tell?!) and saw a mother and grown daughter walking in.  The elderly mother was bent over, using a cane, and walked very, very slowly.  The daughter patiently followed behind.  As soon as they sat down in their booth and got settled, I walked up behind the daughter and handed her the note with a smile and said, "I think ... Read Full Story >>

Just a Smile and a Wave

This just happened yesterday: I was driving from work to my daughters house a few miles away. I came to a stop light and out of the corner of my eye saw the driver in the car next to me looking at me and waving his hands.

He was smiling so big and waving so enthusiastically I thought he must be someone I knew. I rolled down my window, as did he, and he leaned over his wife/girlfriend/friends shoulder and just said to me, "I'm just saying hello! You're a beautiful person!" and drove off. 

I drove away thinking, "Wow." And then when I signed on here for the first time today, I thought about him and wondered if he belonged to a group here! Anyway, I know I'm supposed to write about kind things I do for others, and I will, but I just had to share this one. It's amazing how a simple, sincere, smile and hello can brighten someone's day!

100 Qualities I Love About You

I have a friend whom I talk to a lot and love to share things with. Since she is a bit smaller than me, I'm usually giving her the clothes I outgrow. She doesn't have much money so she really appreciates them. Anyway, she had a horrible past, her parents were abusive to her both mentally and physically. As a result, she has very low self esteem and is very fragile. 

A couple of nights ago, her fiance and his friend came up to bring her an early valentine's day present, and then without warning, his friend calls her ugly! The poor thing was heart broken, and her whole past came rushing into her head, making her sob for hours. I felt sooo bad. I didn't do well trying to cheer her up over the phone... but what can you do?

So I thought of something. Everyone loves hearing that they have good qualities in them, especially when they don't think they have any. I decided to write 100 qualities I love about her. To show her that she is loved and beautiful.

 I finished it today and decorated it with colored pencils and crayons. I'm going to give it to her tomorrow morning. I hope she likes it. :)

Inspired

The reason I came onto this site was because I was inspired by an an article and I am glad I did. Now I am making cards for a hospital near my town. They are basically just get well cards.

I made two cards, one of them are for girls and the other one is for a boy.  I will then copy them and hopefully give them personally to the kids. 

Also I am going to donate my hair to Locks of Love.

inspired!

The Wondorous Oragami Man

My friend, Gayla and I were traveling to Phoenix from Chicago. I misread the ticket, and we missed our flight. I was busy being upset about my failed plans when Gayla suggested we just fly wherever we want instead, since we had the time. I think about missing my flight to Phoenix and going to San Francisco instead. It taught me a lot about being open to what is, not attached to what I want, and how things unexpected can happen. Long story but while Gayla and I were in San Fran, this strange thing happened. It made me think maybe I should start to trust the natural course of things more, instead of always thinking I know what is best and trying to control things. Did I see an angel or go or santa while in San Francisco? I don’t know what he was, but he was not of this ... Read Full Story >>

Thanks for the lift!

Our son Ben had just graduated from the Army Reserve in Kapooka - Wagga Wagga New South Wales Australia. My husband and I flew down from Queensland to see his march out . When I booked our accommodation, I asked the receptionist if this bed and breakfast was central to everything and we were reassured it was a little "walk" into the shops etc. When we arrived at Wagga Wagga and caught a taxi to our destination, imagine our suprise when it wasn't near anything!! The next day we taxied to Kapooka - it was proving to be a very expensive exercise as Kapooka was also 20 minutes drive from Wagga. As we were walking our of the front gate after the event , we had to meet Ben in Wagga Wagga, a kind couple pulled up in their car and offerred us a lift.  Jane and Michael  had a hire car and heard us talking about booking a taxi. They ... Read Full Story >>

The gift that continues to give

I have always believed that people come into your life for a reason. With this in mind I met a man at work who had a drug problem. I knew because I used to.

Over the next 2 years we became closer and had long talks about his addiction. I knew I was supposed to help him, but I didn't know how. I had talked him into rehab and even took him to the center but every time he got out he would relapse. I thought long and hard until "IT" came to me.

I had to give more of myself, go on a leap of faith. I convinced him to try rehab one more time and when he got out I moved him into to my apartment, against the advice of those around me. Getting him out of his  earlier environment was the key. He never relapsed again. We just celebrated his 2 year clean date in January, after 23 years of abuse. He is still my roommate and has since helped me more than any friend I have ever had.