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Moved by a Meaningful Act of Kindness

Our extended family had spent a beautiful vacation together last summer. I had rented a beach house from a woman and before we left, we all signed the guest book thanking her.   Well, it turned out to be the last time the whole family was together.  My father in law passed away this May rather suddenly.  One of my sisters-in-law asked me some time ago if I could write to the woman whose house we stayed in and ask if she could send us a photocopy of our "guestbook" comments.  She said she had never gotten to read what her father wrote. I wrote a letter to the woman and didn't think about it afterwards. You won't believe it - today a package arrived in the mail and not only did this angel make copies of our comments for all the siblings, she framed the original page with just my father ... Read Full Story >>

Learning in Unlikely Places

I went up to Peet’s Coffee the other morning and there was a young man, Mike, probably my age. With him he had all his physical belongings on a small roll cart. I first thought, how nice to have so little possessions. That was followed with the thought of how ironic it is that we live in one of the financially wealthiest areas of the U.S., if not the world, yet we can’t, or don’t, take care of the basic needs of human beings. Yes, we are financially wealthy, but we lack in wealth of compassion, kindness, understanding. I tear up as I ponder the inequality and injustice that exists.   Anyway, I invited Mike in for bite to eat and he eagerly accepted. He talked about looking up a friend for a place to stay that night. On Christmas Eve as many eagerly (and greedily) stuff their bellies with food in ... Read Full Story >>

Babies on Planes

The flight that I was on had these two babies less than a year old, probably twins, who were howling loudly. They were probably uncomfortable with their first flight. Everyone in the plane was disturbed with the loud crying. The poor parents were having a really really tough time and didn't know what to do to help the kids calm down. Both the mother and father stayed peaceful with the babies.
 
Even though almost every passenger on the plane was disturbed, no one said anything which to me was a sign of supreme patience and kindness of strangers that goes unnoticed. I want to thank all of you who have a large heart and stay patient and tolerant when facing such issues in public places. When the flight landed, I went and patted the father's arm and told him that I thought that both of them were wonderful parents. He laughed and thanked me for the compliment. His laughter made my day!

 

Safer For All Children

I had noticed that a park that I take my children to occasionally had been vandalised with broken glass in the area where parents sit.  I decided the next time I visited I would take a plastic bag and fill it up with all the broken glass and rubbish that I could.

It would be very easy to pretend that this is someone elses responsibility but I decided that I could not take the chance that one of my children or some one elses children may fall over and get cut glass in their hands.

Now the area is cleaner, not totally free of glass yet but each time we visit I will make sure I have a plastic bag to collect any rubbish to make it a safer and nicer place for all who visit. 

A 72 Year-Old Gem

Today, I was at an ATM that is situated inside a petrol bunk.  The security guard (who was a 72 year-old man) gently reminded me that I cannot use my cell phone inside the ATM.  When I came outside, I had a desire to talk with him. At first, I felt a little sympathetic.  In my initial impression, he seemed like a poor, elderly retired man who was still working at this ATM.  I ended up listening to him.   He spoke to me about his family, and particularly about his son and daughter. He told me that his daughter always cares for him, even though she is married herself. Then he described his son, who "has a heart of stone".  He advised me me to save money for my old age (not that I am all that young :)), and I told him that I give away everything, trusting in the bounty ... Read Full Story >>

A Note in my Lunch Box

At the beginning of this week I was touched to tears, when I opened my lunch box at work. Somehow I was feeling not so good that day, it was hard for me to get up in the morning, and so on.

When I opened my lunch box at work, I saw a little piece of paper. The piece of paper was a note from my mom saying that she loves me and wished me a blessed day!

My heart was so touched, I am so thankful that God gave me a mother that notices when I am a little down. The next day I had another note! My mom made a difference in my day and I will never forget this special touch of kindness!

You Can Change The World

There is a poem out there about how to change the world. I couldn't find it exactly so I put what I could remember here. Everyone here IS changing the world with their focus on kindness. Thank you all very much!

The Hungry Cat

This is my first story, it's a random act of kindness.

It was 9:30 am when I was walking around campus shooting pictures. While I was walking in the Courtyard I heard a "Meow". It was the University's cat. She was very hungry. When I saw her I immediately ran to the canteen to buy a milk for her. Then I went back to the courtyard, spilled the milk in the dish, and I gave it to her. It was my pleasure to feed the hungry cat :)

Flower Power

This morning one of my co-workers was quite agitated over the use of  our company cars. .... the result of  misunderstanding.  This work environment is very high-stress for all of us, however, I was shocked when she was actually raising her voice.  

She left the office in a huff  (our job requires outside visits.)  Some of the other employees mentioned that she hadn't been "quite herself" lately .  I got to thinking that maybe there was more going on than a dispute over who should be driving the company car today, so while I was out, I picked up a bouquet of flowers and a nice vase and just left them on her desk. 

I didn't see her until later in the day and when I did her overall attitude was quite sunnier!  She asked me if I had the left the flowers for her and I neither affirmed nor denied.  They seemed to have made her day! 

Halloween Candy Robbery

Last year, when my son and I were out trick-or-treating on Halloween, we saw two young girls ahead of us.  One was dressed as an angel and one was a cowgirl; as they reached the corner of the street, two teenage punks ran by and stole the girls candy.  The older one ran after them and the younger one started to cry.  (They were obviously almost finished, as their bags were full.) 

My little boy went up to the little girl and gave her and her sister ALL of his candy. 

By this time, the little girl crying had attracted a lot of attention.  All the neighbors chipped in and everyone went home with plenty of candy.  

As for the thugs -- in a small town like this, everyone knows each other and they made restitution by means of community service.  And my little boy, he's known by his heart of pure gold -- I am so proud!

Scarf with a Mission

I recently received a story from a friend: So after a recent meditation group gathering, a wonderful soul that I trust and admire asked me to give away a beautifully constructed scarf with a smile card. I mean, living in New York City in the dead of winter, I thought this should be easy.   There is a woman who sits outside in the cold, near my office building every single day. I instantly thought, Let me give it to her. She appears to be homeless,  it is cold, and she sits there all day, everyday, outside of one of the richest jewelry stores in the world. Excitedly, I went to give her the scarf.   She said, "What is it?"   I told her, and she said, "No, I don't want it."   And in that moment I was both perplexed and humbled. I wanted to plead with her, "It's cold, it’s snowing, you don't ... Read Full Story >>

Snail Mail Surprises

I was very busy yesterday snipping coupons, cartoons, gathering inspirations, stick-em's, jokes, good reads, music and other goodies for my snail mail treats.  Usually I send my snail mail surprises out monthly but with the holidays I haven't. Seems many of my friends , a few widows and a few family members are really down.  I believe its a combination of life challenges, the weather and the holidays. I want to do my part to spread cheer, goodwill and smiles to let them know I am thinking about them and sending them hugs, since I can't be there in person.   I wrote several short letters and cards then filled them with all sorts of goodies depending on the recipents and what I thought would cheer or inspire them personally.  These goodies included an inspirational book, a little mystery fun book, poetry, a spa coupon and a Birdsong DVD. I also held each card/letter in the palm of my hands infusing it with ... Read Full Story >>

Balloon On A Kindness Journey

I finally did it! I am so happy! 

I've had this idea for a while but I didn't have the guts to actually go through with it - until today.

I bought 10 helium filled balloons, drew a smiley face and wrote the date they were released on each them. I had set up another e-mail account for the project. I wrote the e-mail address on Smile Card and attached them to the balloons.

Then I took them outside and released them into the air. I hope to get some awesome stories back in return.

Green Smiles

I remember that particular Monday morning well. Having signed up for a new website dedicated to random kindness (KindSpring.org), I suddenly received an email which stated that my idea had won. My idea had... won? Wait, were they talking about my idea for 'Green Smiles'? Green Smiles had always seemed more like a wishful daydream, some sort of fantasy which was inspired by the lack of green in my neighborhood. I wanted to make the neighborhood more 'green' in the broadest sense of the word. For example, I wanted to plant pretty flowers and even herbs in the small patches near the trees. Perhaps even transform the larger and often messy plots of 'green' near the parking lots. Put up insect-hotels so that children (and adults too of course ;)) would be able to enjoy the sight of a pretty butterfly more often. Or look in wonder at at a buzzing ... Read Full Story >>

A Simple Act of Patience

Recently we've had a popular department store open in our area.  It's been the talk of the town for months!!  On about the third day of the grand opening, I thought I'd stop by to check it out.  I noticed right away that the parking area was extrememly busy.  As I was about to exit my car, a lady was about to enter her car to leave.  She was parked on the opposite side of me and there was a four way stop behind our parking areas.  As the lady tried to back out to leave,  some of the shoppers were extremely rude to her!!  They yelled and beeped their horns at the lady and she had a look of terror on her face.  She looked at me and threw up both of her hands as if she didn't know what to do. I gestured for the lady to put her ... Read Full Story >>

Spread Love Everywhere You Go

Dear friends, I hope that all is well. One of the things I know is that it is human nature to want things. We all want more money, better homes, better cars, and better relationships and so on. So what is the secret to getting all that we want? I have been looking for that answer for a while and if you have it I pray you will share. Here is what I would like to share, I started tithing last year and I made the minimum amount based on my income. This past Sunday as I reflected in all that is going well in my life I realized that I was not giving back at the rate to which I am being given. This made me think of life in general and how we want so much from life but we are willing to give so little. We often agonize about ... Read Full Story >>

A Kindness "Chain Reaction" in a Traffic Jam

My 17 year old granddaughter is an accomplished flutist.  She recently gave a farewell recital to her friends and family at her high school in Chicago, which was followed by a homemade buffet supper.  After the recital, she had a 3 hour drive home with her mother and sister.  They decided to load up the car with the left-over food from the recital, which included barbequed sandwiches and cream puffs.  They packed the food on plates which they placed in zip-lock bags. On the drive back, they stopped to give the zip-lock bags to homeless people along the way.  At one junction, there was a traffic jam even though the lights were green.  My granddaughter decided to run through the cars to take a plate to a person on the side walk.  As she ran back, some of the other cars started to honk their horns. The lights had already turned red, so my daughter ... Read Full Story >>

Festival Sweets For Strangers

This Diwali, I planned to celebrate the festival by doing some kind acts. I emailed few colleagues to join me however all were busy with festival celebration. I also had enough work and a meeting got scheduled on the Diwali day itself hence i had to visit office. I was thinking it won't be possible but then I got an idea of distributing sweets right near office. Looked like a good idea but I had not made any full fledged plans. When I reached office I already started feeling bad for security and kitchen staff who were working on holiday, so they got tagged. Around lunch time, I wanted to go and purchase sweets when I thought of buying pizza for lunch, along with giving sweets to pizza hut workers, who were also at work on holiday. This was pretty exciting as young boys n girls work at pizza hut and i was ... Read Full Story >>

Helping Out In A Phone Call

As a customer rep for a financial account of one of US' supermarket, its a daily shift of hundred phone calls regarding their prepaid debit cards. Calls that are sometimes degrading, calls that make you cringe at how the caller speaks and calls that are just purely racist. what make it different is how my mindset is. Everyday I wake up and declare myself as a helper of my callers. I go beyond our protocols in dealing with my customers. Though phone interaction is only limited to 4 minutes 45 seconds, i strive to make it as meaningful and as uplifting for someone in need. One of my callers is panicking on how she made the wrong insurance payment that will lead to his son in college not receiving any pay outs thereby leaving him without any food for a week or two. The mom said she can live going over ... Read Full Story >>

A Snack That Turned Into Balloons

Often we do little acts of kindness and can’t really know what happens next… the people who benefit from the act return to their lives and we return to ours!  Our paths may never cross again.  But that’s not the case when a member of HelpOthers does a kind act to another member of HelOthers!  Here we can chart the ripples as we guide the kindness on its way!  Here’s one such story. You may have read Aurelia’s post about making Chex Mix for her family, or Bluebell’s post about receiving a snack from a friend in the US.  Well I sent some Karmabucks to Aurelia to find out more about her amazing snack and she offered to send some to me if I was based in the US.  Unfortunately I’m not, I live in the UK but luck would have it that I was off to America for a company event last ... Read Full Story >>