Kindness of strangers

[WooingWyandotte]

No one has ever done some random act of kindness towards me, so I have no story to tell. But the stories of others are extremely heartwarming.

 

[M.sue]

Quote:
Sure they have, it just went unnoticed. Examples: Holding a door open, letting you cut in line at the grocery store, smiling at you when in passing, offering you a piece of gum, handing you something you dropped, etc. Acts of kindness don't always have to big & generous!

 

[Glenmar]

M.sue :

Quote:
Sure they have, it just went unnoticed. Examples: Holding a door open, letting you cut in line at the grocery store, smiling at you when in passing, offering you a piece of gum, handing you something you dropped, etc. Acts of kindness don't always have to big & generous!

Good point.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

M.sue :

Quote:
Sure they have, it just went unnoticed. Examples: Holding a door open, letting you cut in line at the grocery store, smiling at you when in passing, offering you a piece of gum, handing you something you dropped, etc. Acts of kindness don't always have to big & generous!

I don't brush off smiles or holding a door open, that just isn't a story.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Not much of a story, but I sometimes find it's all the little things that count.
Like the public phone spitting my change back out at me after I made the terrible mistake of trying to use it.

 

[Beekissed]

This thread is like Chicken Soup for the Soul books....I read them all the time and I cry and cry all the way through. <sniff!>

(Let me preface these tales with the comment that I normally don't blab my financial circumstances to the world and admonish the boys to keep mum as well, so you can see why these things came as such a surprise...how in the world did they know??? )

A few years back I was out of work, a single mother with teen boys still at home, and we were coming up to Christmas. Right before Thanksgiving a young boy stopped by the house with a box full of groceries and wouldn't tell where they were from....I cried and cried that night as I thanked God. I had been wondering how in the world I was going to do Thanksgiving for my boys that year.

Continue on into Christmas and we were still pretty narrow on money....bills were coming due, rent was due, etc. and there was absolutely no money to get the kids anything at all. I got a Christmas card from our church and it had over $200 in it....I wouldn't have missed that Christmas for all the world. As embarassed and helpless I felt about being so poor, I also felt more blessed than I ever had! I knew then that God wasn't going to let me fall down without picking me up, dusting off my knees and fixing the hurt.

When we had moved to this area, I had prayed to God and asked if He would just let me pay my bills on time, that was all I really wanted. Do you know that the time during my unemployment, which lasted several months, I wasn't late on one bill...I even had electric bills that would show a current billing of $0 owed.

We even received help from the local food bank and I vowed that I would pay back that kindness...and I've been providing them with eggs for the past 5 years now.

All the kindness shown and God's amazing love for me just makes me want to pay it forward also....so I do, as often as I can and in every way possible. I could tell you all kinds of stories of kindness from strangers....and kindness returned to other strangers. I love the way it makes me feel to pay it forward!

 

[Fierlin1182]

Wow, that's an awesome story! Love it how people stick in for others when they're in need.

There's this new Pay it Forward thing going round... every time you're on the receiving end of an act of kindness, do something nice for three other people, and eventually it keeps on spreading.

 

[sheaviance1]

I remember very vividly standing in line at the grocery store unable to pay for my groceries. I didn't have much on the belt, and had zero junk food. At the time, I was a single Mom with two children at home. I was trying to choose what would go back, and was very deliberately choosing items to set to the side. I remember desperately needing flour, so I was swapping the big bag for the little bag so that I could have at least a little bit at home. There was an elderly couple in line behind me who paid for my groceries while I was gone to swap the flour. When I paid for the flour, I owed less than three dollars. I will never forget that kindness. I have tears in my eyes as I type this out. To me, it is one of the most amazing gifts I have ever received.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I went to the gas station to fill 1 of my tires with air and I noticed that someone left $0.75 on the air machine. I remember when air was free but anyway. So, I was able to fill up my tire for free. I thought that was so cool and a pleasant surprise so I left $0.75 for the next person.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Air is still free down here. I suppose we should be thankful.

But still a nice thing to do!