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Family with Epileptic Son Touched After Stranger Pays For Dinner

A North Carolina family with an epileptic child was given a touching gift on Friday when an anonymous stranger paid for their dinner at a restaurant, leaving them a note that is, not surprisingly, going viral online. The note read: "God only gives special children to special people." The message was delivered to Ashley England and her family, including her 8-year-old son, Riley, at the Stag-N-Doe pizza restaurant in China Grove, N.C., on Friday by a waitress. "I'll try to do this without crying," the waitress told the family, according to WBTV.com. "But another customer has paid for your bill tonight and wanted me to give you this note." England said Riley, who is nonverbal, gets frustrated because he can't speak, and he had been especially rowdy during the meal. "He threw the phone and started screaming," England told WBTV. "The past few weeks have been very hard and trying for us, especially with public ... Read Full Story >>

Nothing Less of a Miracle

We have spent this year using our cards to pay for the car behind us in drive-thru's. Most usually this happens on a Sunday morning after we have all worked at our church. Then it comes back...here is our story: This past Sunday, after 3 of my kids had been with me from 7am-1pm, they were working in the childrens’ wing of our church and were starving. They voted for McDonalds. Not having a lot of money on me I hesistantly drove to McDonalds. Upon arrival, the drive thru line was wrapped around the building, hungry and being impatient, I decided just to give in and wait. At that time I also began to pray. God I don’t have a lot of money but if you want me to pay for the car behind me just give me a ... Read Full Story >>

The Mani Man

A prayer wheel, or mani wheel, is a wheel filled with innumerable mantras and inscriptions wrapped clockwise around a central axis. Some prayer wheels are tiny, like tops; others are huge, filling an entire room, and one turns the wheel by holding its handles and walking clockwise around it. Others are attached to running streams or waterfalls so that they can harness the natural energy and spread benedictions throughout the land. The faithful believe that spinning these prayer wheels or hanging prayer flags in the wind actualizes the inscribed prayers. The Tibetan province of Kham is akin to America’s Wild West. The people of Kham are great equestrians, and like all who ride regularly, they love their horses.  Until about a century ago, Kham was carved into dozens of smaller kingdoms, each of which had its own army, raised by forcible conscription. There was once an old man in far eastern Kham ... Read Full Story >>

Carrying A Kid Down the Stairs

Two years ago we took the kids to see a pantomime at a local theater.  As everyone was piling out of the theater after the show was over, I spotted a distressed mother at the top of the stairs with her teenage boy in a wheelchair. She seemed upset, insisting the theater staff had assured her they would have someone there to help her and her son down the stairs.

I offered to help and picked her son up in my arms while she followed with the folded down-chair. All the way I kept up a conversation with the boy despite not understanding a word he said. The poor boy didn't have control of his limbs and kicked me all the way down the narrow, crowded stairs.

After safely seeing the boy and his mother down the stairs, my wife expressed gratitude for what I had done.  Upon reflecting on her reaction, I realized that what I had done was not special or out of the ordinary. He was a human being and I was a human being and both deserved to be treated with the same degree of respect and compassion.  I hoped that someone would have extended me the same courtesy if I were in that position. 

A California Town Turns Strangers Into Friends

California town decides to put kindness on the agenda By Susan Herendeen Wednesday, April 22, 2009 WATERFORD, Calif. — This little town in eastern Stanislaus County may be known for the orchards and dairies that dot its rolling hills, but this week city officials are reminding the 8,100 residents to pass on some good cheer by doing something thoughtful for a stranger, mentoring a youngster or simply being a good neighbor. Thanks to a push from the Waterford Ministerial Association, the city has declared "Random Acts of Kindness" week, which began Sunday and ends Saturday, at the close of a community clean-up day. City leaders may not find a cure for the ills of modern life, like road rage or bullying or the angry remarks that can demoralize a community. But they hope to remind people that kindness can turn strangers into friends. "It's a goodwill kind of thing, to draw attention to the fact ... Read Full Story >>

An Act of Kindness Every Day

 This whole week I have been doing acts of kindness every day.  The following are a few that I wanted to share.   Thursday I went to the post office and solicited for prayers for the prayer book I have started for a very ill boss of mine who is battling cancer.     Friday   I called my boss while he was receiving his chemotherapy and I told him that everything would be ok and he just needed to hang in there. I also offered to drop off the prayer book for him to read if he needed encouragement.   Saturday   I just moved into my current neighborhood and still getting to know my way around. When I first went to the car wash near my apartment, I met a lot of friendly people. When I went back for the second time, they washed my car for free.   This past Saturday my mother needed to borrow my car. I ... Read Full Story >>

An Interesting Ride to the Airport

I was driving home from work and was queued up on the entrance ramp to the freeway, when I saw a car pulled off to the side - smoke pouring out from under the hood.  A man, with a very pregnant wife and small girl were standing nearby looking extremely distraught.  I pulled over and offered my cell phone so the man could call a towing service.  While he was making calls, I found out that they were on their way to the airport to pick up the wife's mom, who was flying in from Europe.  The wife had a bad cold AND was crying because they were obviously not going to be able to meet her mom on time and they had no way of letting her know what was going on. I had no schedule to meet and the airport was on my way home so it seemed like a ... Read Full Story >>

Archive of Kindness Quotations

Here are some quotations archived from the weekly newsletters on this site: "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do." --Edward Hale Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. --Barbara De Angelis Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. --Albert Schweitzer Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Every act creates a ripple with no logical end. --Scott Adams Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that has. --Margaret Mead Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. --Eric ... Read Full Story >>

In Giving I Connect with Others

I have lived with passion and in a hurry, trying to accomplish too many things. I never had time to think about my beliefs until my 28-year-old daughter Paula fell ill. She was in a coma for a year and I took care of her at home, until she died in my arms in December of 1992. During that year of agony and the following year of my grieving, everything stopped for me. There was nothing to do -- just cry and remember. However, that year also gave an opportunity to reflect upon my journey and the principles that hold me together. I discovered that there is consistency in my beliefs, my writing and the way I lead my life. I have not changed, I am still the same girl I was fifty years ago, and the same young woman I was in the seventies. I still lust for life, I ... Read Full Story >>

How to be a Kick-Butt Volunteer

A volunteer, by definition, serves and improves our community. But a little birdie once told me there are some volunteers who prefer to laze around and play Candy Land instead of getting any real work done. I assume these people believe that since they are volunteering, they are automatically helping and consequently forget to put genuine sweat into their work.  Is it possible to have your peacock feathers a bit too fully displayed and misdirect your admirable intentions? I posed the following questions to a bunch of my cronies who have years of experience in the nonprofit sector: What makes a first-rate volunteer? What makes a helplessly high-maintenance volunteer? How can a person become a super-hero volunteer? Listen to the following advice of my friends. I’ll be bold enough to guarantee that my grass-roots amigos can steer you down the most direct boulevard to becoming a kick-butt volunteer. Jennifer Beahrs, a ... Read Full Story >>

Grandma's Ice-Cream

My mother and grandmother were incredibly generous, giving, and loving people.  I think that love and giving go hand in hand.

I remember when I was a little girl there were children over playing at my house. We were out in the yard and there used to be ice cream trucks and their bell would be ringing, calling in the children everywhere, the ice cream man is here! I went running back in the house. I guess ice cream was probably about a nickel, and there were fifteen children on my front porch. There were always a lot of children around there.

My grandmother would give everybody a nickel to go buy ice cream, and if she did not have enough nickels for all the children, then I didn’t get an ice cream either.

Nails in the Fence

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.  His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.  He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The ... Read Full Story >>

A Dropped Quarter

The other day, my sister accidentally dropped a quarter while leaving the grocery store.  To her surprise, an elderly man came out of the grocery store behind her, holding another quarter in his hand. The elderly man handed his quarter to my sister thinking that it was the quarter that she had dropped.  My sister informed him that it was a mistake and told the man to keep his quarter.  The man then informed my sister that he didn't need the quarter because he had already saved over 9,000 quarters to follow his dream of driving across the country.  He then said regrettably that he was now too old to drive across country and had decided to spend the money on purchasing a TV instead.  As the old man slowly  walked away, it occurred to my sister that a friend of hers had traveled across country by train.  My sister quickly ... Read Full Story >>

Adventure of Lost Keys

A British family were on holiday in a rented motor-home in the USA. Traveling through California they visited the Magic Mountain amusement park close by Los Angeles. Mid-afternoon, halfway through what was turning out to be a most enjoyable day at the park, Mum, Dad and the three kids came upon a particularly steep plummeting ride. In the queue, the ride attendants strongly warned everyone about the risks of losing hats, spectacles, coins and keys, etc., and these warnings were echoed by large signs around the ride. During the ride, Dad lost the keys. Due to the fact that the motor-home was a replacement vehicle resulting from a breakdown earlier in the holiday, there were no spare keys. And there were six keys on the lost bunch: ignition, front doors, side door, fuel tank, propane tank, and storage cupboards. The park attendants drove the family back to the motor-home, suggesting the least ... Read Full Story >>