Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Roses and Newspapers

Hi I'm 12 years old and I recently saw a movie called 'Pay It Foreward'. It was all about doing random acts of kindness.

On mothers day today we had a bunch of roses in our church that went out to all the mothers. There were a few extra so i took the extra ones home with me and placed them on people in my neighborhoods doorsteps. Then when i was delivering newpapers on wednesday one of my neighbors had seen me drop of a rose at their doorstep, ran up to me and gave me a huge hug.

That had made my day, that sometimes people just need something small like a rose to make them happy!

3789 Reads

Serving in Africa

I've believe I've been guided. Christmas Eve/ Christmas day 12.15am. Sitting outside a church unwilling to disrupt the midnight mass inside, listening vaguely to the singing. Out on the cold steps, the distent noise of the party goers, odd flake of snow my mind wondering. By the time my boyfriend came to get me at about 1.00am, I have this solidly wedged notion in my mind. To do something I had never seriously considered before, to break free of this lovely sheltered protected life I have grown to know and accept unappreciatingly. I believe sitting on those steps, I was touched by someone or something that fueled me to get into touch with this volenteer company in Africa. So in less than two months from now I am going to work in a Childrens Orphanage in a township in South Africa. To the great surprise of everyone that knew me when ... Read Full Story >>

1942 Reads

What a Bargain!

So my girlfriend and I were in a womens store in Jersey this past saturday and I am paying $15 for 2 tops which is next to nothing and overhear the clerk at the register saying that the winter coats just got marked down to $1!

After she handed me my change for $20, I handed it back to her and said I will take 5 coats for women in our local shelter and everyone said, "oh that's so nice of you", blah, blah, blah.

I did it to keep a woman warm, not for any other reason. I didn't do it for recognition or anything else. I just hoped the person behind me in line also bought a coat for $1 at least one to keep a coatless woman warm this coming winter!

I will be donating the coast as soon as I locate a homeless shelter (it seems after checking online in my area they won't accept them until winter?), so my trunk will be holding them until then!

Anytime you see a bargain like that, how could you not feel guilty not purchasing at least one? I wouldn't be able to enjoy my beer that night knowing that it cost more than 5 coats if I didnt purchase them! I hope you all can make someone warm in someway! God Bless You ALL! xo

1642 Reads

Pay It Backward and Forwards

I am in recovery from Anorexia. During my illness, people did so much for me. However, at that time i was ill enought that i couldn't show them my gratitude. I want to pour out the love and kindness that was shown to me in my illness to others because i know how much it truely touched my life and encouraged me to recover.

1476 Reads
  • Posted by Rachel Clark
  • May 15, 2006
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Coming Back Home

I will be delivering one card everyday to a children's home I was raised at. The place did so much to my life that I'm now working as an IT Admin with an Aviation company.

I would like to show my gratitude through these cards and everytime I deliver one card, it will be a reminder of the good work and that God is always there for you and me.

1374 Reads
  • Posted by David Otieno
  • May 15, 2006
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the Metro

While I was on a campus abroad program in Paris, I frequented the Metro as means of travel. One day I was with a group of friends, and we had just arrived at our stop. As i headed up the stairs, I noticed an older gentleman with an obviously heavy suitcase. I had already made it up the top of the cumbersome flight of steps but felt the need to help. I took his suitcase for him all the way down the stairs, making sure he made it down safely as well and ensured that both he and his suitcase made it safely onto the train.

Sometimes kindness lies in the simple, little things of life.

1496 Reads
  • Posted by Brian DeGross
  • May 14, 2006
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happiness

we decided to make someone happy so we went out and did it. this was all because of this website. we found a homeless guy and we gave him a sandwhich. this made him happy because he had never eaten one before.

i was so proud of myself, that I did something for someone else.

2864 Reads

Bystander No More

I was with my oldest son and we were on the lookout for an open parking space in our jam-packed shopping center. We spotted a perfect one in the next row of spaces, and I manouvered our van around the turn, all the while hoping no one else would spot it and grab it before I could. And, as luck would have it, a lady was wheeling her shopping cart right in front of us, and it looked like it was getting away from her - crammed with bags and cartons of soda underneath. She herself was carrying three extra bags in her hands while trying to push the cart against a strong spring wind, and looked frazzled. She noticed us and I could tell she was trying to move over to the side so we could pass. At that moment, some of the lighter ... Read Full Story >>

6538 Reads

Family Kindness Journal

Last month I started a family kindness journal. Every day each member in the family must write down the good deed that they did that day. It is amazing to see how far my children's deeds have come.

At first they helped the teacher or shared school supplies, but it has progressed to wonderful things I never imagined.

For example there is a boy my son has not gotten along with since the first day of school. My son came home and told me his good deed for the day was to make friends with this boy.

I said, “What possessed you to be friends with someone who has been mean to you all year?”

His response? “I gave it a lot of thought and realized he was lonely and didn't know how to make friends, and that was why he was mean.”

This boy has had quite an attitude adjustment (no longer hitting and calling names) and has been welcomed into my son's group of friends.

Some deeds are big some are small, but the point is for us to think of other people.

6355 Reads

A Little Girl with a Mission

My 7 year old daughter collected money for 2 years in a piggy bank.

Recently we went on vacation and raided her bank for a total of 160 dollars. We spent 20$ on vacation.

When we got back, she saw a commercial about the hungry children in Africa and decided she wanted to donate the rest of her money to kids that really needed it. She felt that instead of spending the money on toys and gifts that her money would be better spent on saving children's lives.

If only we could all think that way!!

2133 Reads

A Little Red Book

When you buy things with money, you feel like its owed to you. But when you receive something as an offering from someone else, the gift is a reminder of something bigger than yourself and you are filled with a humble reverance for all life. Well, this is a story of one of those gifts. In our middle-class living room, we have three shelves of books. We call it the "open source" bookshelf because any of our guests can take any book and contribute any book to it. No one tracks it; it's all based on trust, even though our home hosts many events with hundreds of different people passing through it. These books are typically of the broader inspiration genre -- there's the general Chicken-Soup-For-Everyone books, self-help books like Power of Now, fictional masterpieces like Siddhartha, sacred texts like the Bible, Koran, the Dhammapada, and Gita, many biographies of ... Read Full Story >>

7314 Reads

Compassion

My children, Claire and Jordan, were 8 and 9 years old. It was a really hard year for us, and our five kids were told not to expect presents at Christmas time. These two (the youngest of 5) went into the woods and cut small logs and branches and made 'twig reindeer,' which they sold in the town. Together, they earned $300. But the wonderful thing was, even though they weren't expecting any Christmas themselves, they donated every penny to Compassion International to help orphans have a happy holiday, because Jordan and Claire had a loving family... and that was enough!

2248 Reads
  • Posted by Suzi Wollman
  • May 8, 2006
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Making Another Kid's Day

I was at Chuck E. Cheese's with my mom and my younger brother during the Thanksgiving holiday and I was getting a lot of tickets playing the games there. While I was playing this one game, there was a kid who won 10 tickets but he didn't get them because the game was broken. He looked really sad so I gave him twenty of my tickets to make up for the tickets he lost and then some. I think that kindness really made his day.

1724 Reads

Helpless

As i was shopping a lady fainted so i went to her and helped her and took her to the hospital. I stayed overnight with her as she wanted me to, she ended up passing away in the middle of night. I did everything I could even though i didn't know her. I still miss her to this day she was in her 70s.

1513 Reads

Just Another Day At Work

I am going to inlist all of my employees to start a revolution of kindness. I am going to pass out the smile cards during our next all office meeting.

I had someone perform an act of kindness that I would consider a miracle. I was the only sibling unable to attend my brothers wedding out of town because financially It would not be feasible because I am rasing six children on my own.

Anyway, one of the physicians I worked for shared my "poor me" story with a family member and a week later just days before the wedding a stranger showed up with a card and $500.00 that said pack your bags and be with your family.

Now I realize this was an amazingly generous act but it will never be forgotten and I will tell it forever and encourage as many people as I can to do something nice for a stranger!

Keep up the smiles!!

2498 Reads

Christmas With My Son

I have a five year old son and two 18 month old twins and especially at Christmas time I wanted them to truely understand what the act of giving was all about. So I made a list of people that were less likely to recieve gifts or love and let my five year old chose who we would give gifts to.

He chose homeless people. We purchased some large inexpensive gift bags and filled them with canned goods, used warm socks, new toothbrushes, bars of soap, candy bars, and many other surprises, but to my surprise my son came in with his piggy bank and said they could have his money. We filled several plastic bags with coins and I slipped in a few dollar bills, and we put all the bags in the trunk of the car.

It was several days before we saw a homeless person pushing a cart down the main blvd. and fortunately my son was with me and we pulled over and gave the bag to a man who started to cry when we wished him Merry Christmas. I have never forgotten the look of gratitude on his face and neither has my son.

We have now done this for three years on my sons request.

6708 Reads

Free Lunch

While waiting for a doctor's appointment, I decided to go into the coffee shop for a soda. The only other customer was an elderly woman eating a small lunch at a nearby table. When I paid for my drink I told the cashier that I would like to pay for the lady's lunch.

By coincidence, when I was waiting for the elevator after my appointment, the lady came down the hallway. She said, "Oh, you're the nice lady who bought my lunch. My husband died last year, and I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself. It perked me up when the waiter told me you had paid for my lunch. Thank you...You're so kind."

So my "random" act was not anonymous anymore, but it was gratifying to think that I could cheer someone up, even briefly.

I do have one regret. I wish I had asked her to join me. She probably would have appreciated that even more, but then again, maybe not. Sometimes people aren't ready to connect with a stranger, but they like reminders that the world can still be a friendly place.

2238 Reads

Big Quarters

Whenever I pass by an Elementary schoolyard, I pull any loose coins (especially Quarters) that I have in my pocket and pitch them over the fence, by the swing sets or sliding boards. As a small child it was a thrill to me to find a lost coin laying on the ground, (especially something as BIG as a Quarter!) and I enjoy the idea that I'm passing that excitement on to another small child.

2484 Reads

One Size Fits All

We were recently at a concert. The young artists were playing their hearts out but unfortunately, the audience was largely empty. Moved by the artists, my wife felt we ought to do something to support them. Something, anything. The guy next to us, an Italian youngster named Arthur, had become our friend in applause. We just knew that he felt the same way, because at the end of the concert, all three of us stood up to give our own version of a standing ovation for these budding artists. After the concert, we go outside to the front desk and ask the little girl behind the CD-counter. "What is your favorite item? This t-shirt or this CD or this card?" The little girl was also part of the ten-person band; she was the daughter of the lead singer. A little shy, she shrugs her shoulder with ... Read Full Story >>

5825 Reads

Smiles & Kleenex

I have to say, before I read any of the stories, I need to get a Kleenex at the ready. Almost every story I read touches me, and tears slip--not the sad tears, but tears of that 'touch'.

I can't wait to get my cards and pass along the smiles. Thank you.

2186 Reads




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