Search Results for 'popular' (3005 matches)

One Last Visit To The Beach, On Her Doorstep

I need to share a powerful and strangely wonderful event in my life that involves death and cancer.  I am certain you are struggling with the fact that  I am using the words wonderful, cancer and death in the same sentence.  I think that after you hear this story you will agree that in this case it is an appropriate combination of words. A dear friend of mine was dying of cancer.  Shortly before she died she shared with me that she was very sad that she would never get to go to the beach again.  She grew up near the ocean and it was a special place for her.  The cancer had made her too weak to travel the 4-5 hours from her home to the ocean.  I shared this with several of her friends and we decided we had to do something about it. On a Saturday afternoon in June, while her family kept her distracted ... Read Full Story >>

Making My Life Worth It

One day, after I finished my classes at university and was heading towards the bus station to go home, I kept thinking about how miserable my life was and how I couldn't succeed in anything. I was really sad and I thought I'd never do anything worth it in my life.

Then, I arrived at the bus station. I was looking around and watching people passing by.  I saw this very old lady who was carrying a very heavy bag. I kept watching her for a while and noticed that she was struggling to walk while carrying this bag. So, I decided to go up to her and offer to carry the bag and walk with her to wherever she was going.  She looked at me, shocked at first, but then she gave me the bag and smiled :) I walked with her until she reached her destination and I handed her the bag. She was still smiling and kept thanking me and wishing me the best of everything.

I really can't describe how happy I felt after she left. Yes, I made her happy but I was the happiest person on earth at this moment. It feels great to help people and makes my life feel worth it!!

The Importance of Getting It Right

The old woman walked with a ramble as she pushed her shopping cart full of worldly possessions. She was dirty, her hair unkempt, her clothes torn, she reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. Most of her teeth missing, the image of a miserable wretch manifested before me. She stopped and asked me for change. I invited her to lunch and she agreed.  So, we went across the street to an outdoor cafe so she could watch over her shopping cart, while we dined. The waitress was taken back by the presence of this woman and did not want to serve us, but forced herself. We ate our lunches - she was ravenous and the food disappeared almost as soon as it arrived. When we were ready to leave, I was feeling pretty good about myself and then she asked for a hug.  It was then that I had to face myself and all the hidden repulsion and ... Read Full Story >>

Overwhelmed by Unexpected Loving Kindness

The car went through the stop sign and into the intersection. With no where to go or time to get there, my taxi hit the car dead on. For the next three months I was out of work. I had no savings to speak of. No family to help me. I was in dire straights to be sure.  The lady who ran the stop sign had little insurance, barely enough to cover the medical expenses with little left over to pay my living expenses. Just after the accident Justin came to see me in the hospital. We had been co-drivers with the taxi company. We knew each other and worked well together. We were not what one might consider to be friends but we liked each other. He asked me what was going to happen and I told him I didn't know. I was in deep trouble financially until a settlement ... Read Full Story >>

Tip from a Boy Who Doesn't Speak

I was playing guitar in a cafe when two women with a boy about 8 years old walked in. The boy had a learning disability. He wandered over to me, mesmerized by the music.

As I played, I noticed that he wasn't able to speak. He would make excited and happy sounds instead of expressing himself with words. The women would call him back to them, but he'd wander over again.

After a few minutes, I gave him a guitar pick, and his face lit up. As he then reached into his pocket, his mother raced over, asking "Did he steal something? He's always doing things like that..."

As she was speaking, his hand came out of his pocket. In it was a quarter -- and with a smile he dropped it into my tip jar.
It is the best tip I have ever received.

Gratitude For The Kindness Of Strangers...

As I was walking along the river this evening, enjoying some hot chocolate with the sun shining down on me on this nice spring day, I was in the mood to do something nice for a stranger and started to look around for an opportunity to do a random act of kindness.  Two minutes later I was approached from across the pathway by a complete stranger.  I wasn't sure why he was approaching me, when from out of nowhere he started talking to me really aggressively and harrassing me.  I could tell he was probably drunk or high or who-knows-what so I just stayed calm and kept walking ahead.  There were hundreds of people sitting on benches nearby and walking along the South Bank with me, so I wasn't really worried.  As I tried to walk along he kept saying offensive things to me and trying to get my attention.  ... Read Full Story >>

A 'Grave' Situation

On my way into the city of Orillia today, the sun was shining bright.  It was a very hot, gorgeous day.  For me, it wasn't a very easy morning, but everything was falling into place and I felt good. Just then, I noticed some peculiar activity in a small graveyard just off the road.  As I got closer, I noticed that an elderly man was attempting to pick something up.  With a car parked on the small laneway in the graveyard, he was crouching beside one of the gravestones.  Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he was sobbing. After all that had gone on so far in my day, it was time to give something back.  I pulled into the small graveyard behind the lone car that was parked.  As I approached the fellow, I called out to ask if everything was ok. I noticed then what the fellow was trying to ... Read Full Story >>

Customer's Gift To An Employee

My husband and I have always been friendly with the clerks at the local convenience store where we often get gasoline. I don't think people appreciate what a difficult job these folks have sometimes. They work for a little over minimum wage and I often wonder how they make ends meet. One of the clerks, "Charlie," was missing her glasses one day. I commented on it and she said they'd been broken and that she couldn't afford a new pair. It was obvious that she was having a difficult time. We wondered how we could help, so turned to our own eye doctor for assistance with a plan. We had his secretary contact her, asking her to come in for an eye exam free of charge.  We told the doctor to let her order whatever glasses she wanted and that we would pay for them. Although Charlie questioned what was going on, ... Read Full Story >>

A Child's Response to Life's Unexpected Gusts

Last spring I was walking in a park. A short distance ahead of me was a Mom and her three-year-old daughter. The little girl was holding onto a string that was attached to a helium balloon. All of a sudden, a sharp gust of wind took the balloon from the little girl. I braced myself for some screaming and crying. But, no! As the little girl turned to watch her balloon go skyward, she gleefully shouted out, "Wow!" I didn’t realize it at that moment, but that little girl taught me something. Later that day, I received a phone call from a person with news of an unexpected problem. I felt like responding with, "Oh no, what should we do?"  But, remembering that little girl, I found myself saying, "Wow, that’s interesting! How can I help you?" One thing’s for sure - life’s always going to keep us off balance with its unexpected problems. That’s a ... Read Full Story >>

Rewarding One Good Deed With Another

We were having a mini heat wave yesterday and I was in the supermarket, stocking up on juice and ice-cream.  Now, I'm not much of a fan of the hot weather and I was enjoying the fact that it was cooler inside than outside, but the lady behind the checkout was suffering. I asked if she was looking forward to getting out in the sun after her shift was finished and she replied that she might not last that long. She was melting! She explained that she shouldn't have been working that day, but she had agreed to cover someone else's shift. Now she wished she hadn't. She felt like she might die! I paid for the shopping and headed for the exit. Half way there I remembered something I had wanted to get for Julie, so I went back in. On the way to where I wanted to go, I passed a rack of ... Read Full Story >>

The Girl Who Gave Me Apples

August 1942. Piotrkow, Poland. The sky was gloomy that morning as we waited anxiously. All the men, women and children of Piotrkow's Jewish ghetto had been herded into a square. Word had gotten around that we were being moved. My father had only recently died from typhus, which had run rampant through the crowded ghetto. My greatest fear was that our family would be separated. 'Whatever you do,' Isidore, my eldest brother, whispered to me, 'don't tell them your age. Say you're sixteen.' I was tall for a boy of 11, so I could pull it off. That way I might be deemed valuable as a worker. An SS man approached me, boots clicking against the cobblestones. He looked me up and down, then asked my age. 'Sixteen,' I said. He directed me to the left, where my three brothers and other healthy young men already stood. My mother was motioned to ... Read Full Story >>

The Abundance of a Sacred Fund

Last year, I received a satchel of money on the front steps at my home. When that money arrived, I actually was out of town but my family called me and said that there was a lot of money left at the front door with a note.  When, I returned home I was touched most by the note, which read, "Thank you for all you do for the world." As I have shared on helpothers.org, I immediately placed all of this money into my sacred fund which keeps coming back to me again and again. All of the work I do which bring gifts of monetary value immediately goes into a fund in my home. This has enabled me to grow the initial gift from the universe of $1000 and I have attracted and given back at least two to three times this. The abundance just keeps going out to ... Read Full Story >>

Healing the Hurt in Others

Five-and-a-half years ago my father was suddenly rushed to the hospital for open heart surgery.  At the time, we had no idea that he was gravely ill. The surgery did not go well and he remained unconscious. Due to the laws of our state, we were forced to keep him on a ventilator for 72 hours against his living will wishes. At the end of day two, I was sitting in the waiting room and was watching others walk their fathers around who had had similiar surgeries. Typically, I am very happy for others that are recovering, but this evening, I guess I was a little angry because I finally realized I would never be able to hold my father's hand and walk down the hall again. I had to jump up and run down the hall to get away from everyone. This is not in my nature but I just had to be ... Read Full Story >>

A Traveling Truck of Sweetness

I was on my school's campus the other day and there was an ice cream truck parked right in front of one of the main common areas of the school. Since I had primarily seen ice cream men drive their musical trucks around neighborhoods for elementary school kids, I never thought an ice cream man would circle our campus and come for us, overgrown kids, such as myself.  I was intrigued and was prompted to investigate further. I was quite surprised when the sweet and rather chubby man in the truck called out, "free ice cream!". I questioned him just to confirm his words saying, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" "Free ice cream, you have your choice of these four frozen treats: the rocket pop, the chocolate eclair, the strawberry shortcake, or the drumstick ." After I got the confirmation that this guy is just giving away free ice cream, I talked with the man for a while. He told me that his dream had always ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness Returned After 35 Years

My grandfather was the head of his village for nearly 20 years until we moved to a different city. About a month back, my grandfather was out for his usual evening walk to a nearby garden and didn't return. We were worried and searched for him everywhere but we could not find him. Later in the morning, we got a call from a hospital from an unknown person who had remembered my grandfather.  All he remembered was his childhood nickname. We rushed to hospital to find that my grandfather had been hit by a vehicle and it was this person from 35 years ago who helped my grandfather reach the hospital.  This good samaritan had stayed with him the whole night and paid  for all his hospital bills (you can't get treatment unless you pay the bills first). All this, and he only knew my grandfather with his childhood nickname.  My grandfather was not even able to recognize that person.  We thanked him deeply, and offered him the money he ... Read Full Story >>

We All Have A Story

Last weekend I volunteered at our local shelter to serve meals to the hungry. I convinced a classmate of mine, a woman who is older like myself to come along for the experience. Her life consists of school, playing golf as a semi-pro, and generally living a very comfortable and protected lifestyle. I assume everyone has seen the hungry, the needy, the homeless, the less fortuanate in our society but the assortment of folks at the shelter seemed to trouble my friend. She was aprehensive about getting physically too  close when she was serving meals and she was also full of questions. She made observations such as, "They look like they do drugs", "I assume a lot of them have alcohol problems", "Some of them seem like they are retarded." Once everyone is fed, staff/volunteer's can also eat from the leftovers.  We were told there was enough and that we should ... Read Full Story >>

Gift for the Cashier

My friends and I recently returned from our annual week at the beach.  While we were there, a couple of us needed to pick up a few items at the grocery store. As we were checking out, the cashier complimented me on my necklace.  I thanked her, and she asked where I bought it.  I had gotten it at the department store just down the street, and told her that it was on sale for 40% off.  My friend suggested that she should walk over and purchase one during her break. But the cashier said she couldn't afford it right now.   As we left the grocery store, I told my friend I was tempted to buy one for her. She agreed, and offered to pay for half.  So we went back to the department store and picked out a matching necklace for the cashier. As we paid for it, the sales ... Read Full Story >>

A Little Girl In Need

I was shopping at our little local shopping center the other day and I was just coming back to the underground car park with my bags when I heard a little girl shouting, "Mama, Mama!" I looked around and saw a 4 year-old's head stuck out of an SUV's open backseat window. I went over to ask her what was the matter and calm her down saying her mom would surely soon be back. But she said she needed to go to the bathroom urgently. With no mom in sight, I told her to get out and I would take her to the bathroom (the entrance of which was 20 meters from the car.)  She was very glad and ran with me to the bathroom explaining that she was not allowed to get out of the car by herself. Afterwards she washed her hands and I took her back to the car. Still, ... Read Full Story >>

Instant Pay It Forward!

We drove over to a friend's place to load up our car with boxes full of books. After driving a short distance, my husband realized that our rear tire was flat! After some labor to set up the tire change, I went over to the garage sale next door for some entertainment -- a teenager was doing tricks on a short bike in their yard. He was really good. While watching him, something caught my eye -- a beautiful blue painting with lots of fish and dolphins. "My little son would love that," I thought, considering that he had just seen dolphins in Sea World. Seeing my interest, the lady said, "A dollar for that."  I looked at it again.  It was surely worth more to me.  So I gave her the two dollars I had and when she was surprised, I told her the buck would travel farther if she wants ... Read Full Story >>

The Missing Cheese Bun Feeds Two Souls

Any passenger on the subway who caught a glimpse of me may have already thought that I was strange as I was smiling while reading Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground. In particular this one gentleman sitting diagonal from me was staring at me, at the cheese bun on the floor in front of me, and then back at me. “Next stop, St. Patrick Station” – my stop was quickly coming up.  I had minutes to either take the cheese bun, which nobody else was claiming (as a passenger probably dropped it by mistake and got off at a previous stop), or leave it there and hope that it didn’t go to waste. In those few minutes I felt my pride getting in the way. “What would other people on this subway think of me if I took the cheese bun? Would they think that I wanted it for myself? Would they think ... Read Full Story >>