My teacher was waiting in line to pay his admission fee for his family when he noticed the family in front of him. He could tell they didn�t have much money, and he could see the joy in the kids� faces meant that they didn�t go to these kinds of places very often, maybe even never before. When the family got up to the ticket booth, the man (presumably the father) ended up being short about 30 dollars for the entrance fee; somehow he thought it was cheaper than it actually was. Seeing the disappointment in the mother�s and father�s faces, my teacher threw two twenties on the floor and then tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, sir, but I think you dropped some money." The man just smiled, picked up the money, and thanked my teacher for his kindness. I have never looked up to a man more than I have to him. I never see him anymore, and he probably would never remember me if he saw me, but I will always remember the feeling I had when I saw him do that.
My friend was driving around the neighborhood and the conversation turned to food. Everyone in the car blurted out their favorite ice cream flavors, donuts, pizza toppings, etc. Later on in the trip we all dropped by a donut shop for some snacks. I decided to not get anything and just waited in the car. Minutes later, a friend of mine surprised me with a chocolate cake donut--the exact one that I had mentioned several minutes earlier.
I was walking out of the store and saw a little kid balling his eyes out, yelling,"I want the candy." I walked over and told him if he will stop crying, I will give him a special treat. He stopped and I gave him the candy bar.
When I have a few spare minutes and a stamp or two, I write messages on plain or printed postcards in brightly coloured pens.
Examples of messages are:
�You are a completely good person! The world is a better place because you exist!�
�You can make a difference. You are more influential than you realize!�
�You are important. It is enough that you just be really you.�
I post the cards out anonymously to people selected randomly from the telephone directory.
Saturday was very cold with strong winds. I had a few errands at the local grocery store. On my outing, with the cold wind blowing me with my bags of groceries and an armful of dry cleaning, I noticed a young mother with two little ones trying to control her very full grocery cart while at the same time managing to get her first child in the car seat and keeping a hand on the baby and grocery cart, as the winds were so strong. I walked towards the mother to lend her a hand by holding onto the cart so she could buckle up her first child and put the baby in the car seat. Her little one in the front seat of the car asked, "Who is that lady," and the mother replied, "It is a kind lady helping us."
I was walking through Victoria Station in London one day (I am a married woman of 57) and noticed a lovely young girl looking great and wearing a fabulous jacket. I approached her and told her how fabulous she looked. After a chat together, we said good-bye, and off I went up the escalator to go home. A few minutes later, I had a tap on my shoulder, and it was the young girl saying, �I want you to have my jacket!" I said I couldn�t possibly, but she insisted. To cut a long story short, she gave me this wonderful hot pink jacket, which is now the best item of clothing in my wardrobe.
Several years ago, I became very depressed. I had gone through several months of trauma with my left eye. Finally the doctors told me I would never see out of it again. I was in the military at the time, and my family was several thousand of kilometers away. I felt so alone and isolated. I plucked up the courage to go to my boss and ask for some help. Unfortunately, his response was to just go back to work and over time you will deal with it. That night I found myself sitting on a railway station seat, waiting for the next train to come along so I could jump in front of it. Then this elderly gentleman appeared and sat on the seat next to me. He turned to me and smiled. He then said, �You look like you need a friend to chat to.� We sat on that station for hours just chatting like old buddies. At no stage was it mentioned why I was there. But his words were so kind and heartfelt. As our chat came to a conclusion, he gave me the most beautiful hug I will ever remember. Then as he walked to get on a train, he gave me another of his big smiles and said, �Remember, when you smile, it is because the angels are lifting the corners of your mouth up to heaven.� With that, he gave me a wink and disappeared onto the train. I was never to see him again except every day in my memories.
I was stranded in another town and was asking for a ride south to get home. A gentleman asked where I lived, and I said about fifteen minutes away. He asked if I could take a bus, but since there is no bus service to home, I told him I could not. He asked if I could take a cab, and I said it was $20 for a cab. He pulled out a twenty and said, �Get home safe.� I never knew his name, and all I can do to honour him is to bless him with prayers, and pay it forward when I have the chance.
I live on a busy road in town and get completely blocked in from the plows when it snows. This morning, I heard someone outside and saw a store owner, Matthew from the bike shop across the street, shovelling and snow blowing my driveway! He truly made my day and has inspired me to pass the word about how important Random Acts of Kindness are. I have a very bad back and am trapped when it snows.
I have a neighbour that lives across the street from me that is in her 80s and lives alone. She is a very sweet woman, and waves to me almost every morning when I'm leaving for work. A couple of weeks ago we had a deep freeze, and while I was outside I heard the sound of running water. I noticed there was a puddle in my neighbour�s driveway, and icicles around a pipe that had burst. I went up to the door to tell her about this, but she wasn't home. I hadn't seen the woman in about a week, so I thought she might be out of town. I went back inside my house and called the public utilities department to ask them if there was something I could do. The woman that answered told me how to turn off the water at the water meter to avoid any further damage and water loss. I then left a note on my neighbour�s door explaining what had happened. My neighbour had been in England on vacation and was so thankful that I was observant and cared enough to help her. She gave me a big hug and a box of chocolates and told me I was her hero. It made my day knowing that I'd helped her.
It was the first day of college. I was standing outside of the campus diner in the rain, waiting for some of my friends. This boy approached me, handed me an umbrella, smiled, then walked away. I said, "But how will you get it back?" He just smiled, shrugged, then said, "Don't worry about it."
I was finishing class and getting ready to leave. When I walked outside, I noticed a guy in a wheelchair. He looked like he was stuck and needed help. I noticed five students who walked right by him and didn�t even ask him if he needed help, I thought he was stuck, but he wasn�t, so I asked him if he needed help. He said yes, he couldn�t move because his legs fell off the steps and he was afraid to move. So I helped him put his legs back upon the steps. He said to me, �Thank you for noticing that I needed help, thank you very much.�
Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I get to go to the nursing home again. You know that people in nursing homes cannot hold things very steadily. Well, some of the ladies there wanted to feel young again. So I go paint their nails and do their makeup. Last Tuesday I read them some poems, and I wrote them letters and let them type back to me. It was really interesting to see them. I can�t wait until tomorrow.
I was just in the mood to make someone�s day. So I went out and bought some flowers, and I put a flower in the plastic newspaper bags in the neighbourhood. I put flowers in everyone�s bag I could find until I ran out of flowers. |
