“My old apartment was on the ground floor and had a big window right by the sidewalk. One of my cats liked to sit there all the time. A couple knocked on my door one day, and when I looked through the peephole, I saw that they were holding a half-full bag of cat food. They told me they lived a few buildings down and that their cat had to go on a special diet for health reasons. But they always saw my cat in the window when they were out walking and thought she was so pretty, so they asked if she wanted the rest of the regular cat food they had left. I said yes, and it turned out to be the same kind I get, which was great.
I was very happy to find out that my cat had such loyal fans that they would bring her gifts, haha. It was a much-needed act of kindness and connection at a time when everyone was so stressed and alone. I gave my best friend in college part of my liver. After the surgery, he held my hand and said, “I swear it, brothers forever.” He married the girl I was seeing later, and we never talked again. His son came to my door 15 years later. I stopped moving…
He had an envelope in his hand. His father had died. He told him about me before he died. He said that I was the most selfless person he had ever met. He also wrote a short note in which he apologized and said he never had the guts to reach out.
The kid gave me a college application. He asked me if I could be his reference. Then he says, “I want to study medicine… because of what you did.” That was unexpected. Not after all this time. I just said to him, “Yeah, of course.” And we’ve been in touch ever since.
This older guy asked if he could go ahead of me because his knee was hurting. I was already late for work. I sighed inside but said yes because, to be honest, what else could I do? He thanked me like I had saved his life, which seemed a bit over the top for a favor at the DMV.
My boss called me into his office two hours later to talk about my “attendance problems.” I was ready for a warning when the same guy came in behind him. It turned out that he was the regional director filling in that day, and boom! I made a great friend in the company. He also told my boss about my patience.
A coworker begged me to take her last shift so she could go to her child’s concert. I was tired, but I said yes. The night was terrible, and I promised myself that I would never do favors at work again.
The next week, they said they would lay people off. I lived because someone sent in proof that I had “consistently supported team morale” without giving my name. Later, she said it was her and that she had kept the receipts.
I got to the checkout and remembered that I had left my wallet at home. I’m 8 months pregnant and have two young kids, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. I only got a box of cookies for the boys as a reward for being so good with everything we had to do that day. The lady behind us in line told me to just add the cookies to her cart and she would get them for us. I was telling the kids that we couldn’t get the cookies because Mama forgot her money and we couldn’t get them without paying.
I was embarrassed, but thankful. Money has been tight lately, and this was the first time in a while that I could get the boys a fun treat. She really helped me out and made my boys’ days.
A new boy started coming to the preschool where I work. People started complaining about how he smelled. I told him to tell his mom to wash the clothes. He was so upset that he almost cried. The next day, it was worse. I was about to send him home when the counselor stopped me and said, “I went to their house this morning.”
She stopped for a moment. “They don’t have a washing machine.” Before she leaves for work at 5 a.m., his mom washes their clothes in the sink. He has one set of clothes that he wears all the time. “It never dries.” That sentence hit me hard. “He asked me if he smelled,” she said in a low voice. “He said he tried to hang his shirt by the window all night.” That afternoon, a few things changed, but they weren’t a big deal. There was an extra set of clothes in his cubby. The next day, a small bag with a towel and some detergent showed up.
No one spoke up. He walked in a little lighter by the end of the week. He’s still the same kid, but now he doesn’t have to deal with whispers. I realized that correction didn’t help him.
Someone chose to understand first.
We used to take the kids to the store down the street when K-Mart was still open. We couldn’t always buy the most stuff because we didn’t have a lot of money. But we always found something for each kid. We had a great time together on Christmas, looking for things for hours.
One year, we had a big layaway order there, and my wife and mother-in-law went down to pay for it. My wife called me crying about the order. It turns out that someone we don’t know paid for our order and another ten dollars. We used the money we had to pay for the kids and got some extra.
I found a wet wallet on the sidewalk and thought about keeping the money. Instead, I found the guy and gave it to him. He didn’t say much, just seemed embarrassed. After being laid off, I was looking for work a year later. Who do you think interviewed me? He knew my name, pulled my old resume out of a pile, and said, “You’re the wallet guy, right?” I believe you. We’re friends now!
I was in the hospital with my very sick mother, sleeping in a recliner. At around 5 a.m., the nurse comes in, and my mother tells her that it’s my birthday. I don’t know how she remembered that, but she did. The nurse wished me a happy birthday. He brought me a big blueberry muffin later and said it wasn’t birthday cake, but he hoped it would be okay. He walked across the hospital on his break to get that for me and bring it to me. Even now, I get choked up just thinking about it.
A stranger came up to me while I was waiting outside for my husband to get food when we were homeless. We had just checked out of the hotel where we had stayed the night before and were not looking forward to sleeping in our dead car with our cat. The stranger asked me if I was okay, and when I told him what was wrong, he gave me $100.
Instead of throwing away a bag of clothes, I left it at a shelter. It seemed pointless, like old hoodies and worn jackets. My car broke down last winter during a snowstorm. While we waited for help, a man gave me his jacket. He said the shelter had saved his life, and it was my old hoodie. Isn’t that crazy?
A girl in my class who was usually quiet kept falling asleep in class. At first, I thought she wasn’t putting in any effort. I told her more than once to “get enough sleep.” She would nod, feeling bad, but nothing changed.
The school receptionist pulled me aside one afternoon. “She comes early every morning,” she said. “Before anyone else.”
It turns out that her mom worked at night. She stayed up to watch her little brother and then took him to daycare before school. She had already lived half a day by the time she got to class.
I kept a small blanket and a granola bar in my desk the next morning. No news, no one cares. A quiet place for her to rest for a while after she got there.
After a week, she wasn’t falling asleep anymore. She put her hand up. More smiling. Things haven’t changed much. Just someone noticing and deciding to help instead of making assumptions.
