Being kind doesn’t always mean being loud. It might change a lightbulb after midnight, pay a bill you didn’t know you had, or just sit with you while you fall apart. These true stories of kindness and unexpected love show that even the smallest things can have a big impact on a lost soul’s heart.
My stepdad paid for everything and ran my life for 12 years. Including when I could see my biological father. I begged on my 17th birthday. He lost it. “See him, and you’ll be without a home!” I still went.
When my biological father saw me, his face changed. When he whispered, “Did he send the money I asked for?” I lost track of everything. He never told you, did he? You see, I don’t have time for this if he doesn’t send me money.
The world stopped moving. At that moment, I knew that my biological father didn’t want to be in a relationship at all.
I went home to say sorry to my stepdad for running away, but when I got there, he was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of bank statements. He looked like he was very tired.
“I told you that you’d be homeless if you saw him,” he said in a low voice. “I knew that the moment you walked through that door, he would ask you for the money I’ve been saving for your college dorm. Honey, I wasn’t trying to control you. I was trying to stop him from ruining your future by going bankrupt.
My “controlling” stepdad had been giving my biological dad thousands of dollars over the years just to come to my recitals and birthdays. He made me think he was the “mean” one so I wouldn’t have to know that my biological father only “loved” me when there was money involved.
He let me hate him so I could stay innocent as a child. He wasn’t a bank account; he was a shield. That day, I didn’t just find a stepfather; I found the hero who had been fighting my battles in the dark for 12 years.
One of my coworkers is in her 70s and is great. She is a widow and her kids are all grown up. She works because she doesn’t want to be bored all day. At work, she does more than people who are half her age.
She told another coworker, “My neighbour is a retired police officer.” Our boss heard “retired” and asked, “Who’s retiring?” You can’t retire until you give me two years’ notice.
I now keep a small, hidden purse in my car with some basic items: different sizes of period pads, herbal teas (tisanes), and painkillers.
I know I’ll never need them myself, but I’ve seen how often periods can surprise friends or how quickly cramps can ruin a day. I thought that having the right supplies on hand was the least I could do to be a good friend.
When a friend is in pain or a little bit of a panic, there’s nothing better than being able to say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.” A little bit of planning goes a long way toward making the people I care about feel safe and cared for.
I was 71 years old and leaving the store with four cases of water in my cart when a teenage girl with bright pink hair stopped, put them in my trunk, fist bumped me, and said, “Have a good day, handsome!”
I live in an apartment block and work odd hours, so I usually get home late. I have only talked to this older guy in my building a few times. Nothing important happened in the hallway, just small talk.
I started to notice a few months ago that the light in the hallway near my door was always on when I got home, even late at night. I thought it was just on a timer or something. I got home earlier than usual last night and saw him out there changing the light bulb. I joked about how that light never seems to go out. He said something like, “Yeah, I keep an eye on that one since you usually come home after dark.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just said thank you, but it stuck with me. It’s a small thing, but I don’t have many people in my life who care about me like that. I don’t even think he cares about it.
My first week as a manager was very stressful because of a series of strange events (there was a huge disaster). When I came in on the first day of week 2, one of my workers left me a note on plain notebook paper with a pen in all caps. “YOU CAN DO IT”
Somehow, it made me feel better. It was like my staff was saying they knew I was being thrown to the wolves and they appreciated that I was doing my best.
I put that note in a frame. Even though I’ve been promoted and my first department is a long way away, it still sits on my desk all these years later. When I’m upset, stressed, or feel like I’m failing, I look at it. And it makes me remember that this will pass too.
If you’re going through a huge disaster in your first week, the note shouldn’t have said “YOU CAN DO IT.” It should have said “RUN.” It’s cute, but it also shows that the staff knows how bad that place really is.
In 2014, my father passed away unexpectedly. We all got together to say goodbye, and then a big group of us went out for dinner and drinks. We played songs he liked on the jukebox, sang, told stories, and had a good time. Someone else paid our whole bill (which must have been huge) and left a note that said, “When I die, I hope my loved ones send me off like that.”
We had just been to the thrift store, and my son got a big ziplock bag full of little dinosaur toys. We then went to our favourite lake beach to have a picnic. After that, we walked around. He hid a lot of little dinosaurs where kids could find them and talked about how much fun it is to find a toy on the beach. We do that kind of thing when we need to be nice. 🙂
It’s already in the world; they’re not adding to it. Letting more kids enjoy toys without making new ones is a good thing, honestly. What a way to pee on someone’s bonfire!
My family has been having money problems for the past ten years, ever since my dad died. We haven’t painted our house in more than 20 years, but all of our neighbours do it every year. The paint on our house was fading every year, and we had other things to do that made painting it the last thing on our minds.
The most beautiful person in the world lives next to our building. An older woman who always thought of us and sometimes came over to bring us things that she thought would help and make us smile, especially my mum.
But I just found out that she came over and said that the only way she was going to paint her own house this year was if my mum and I dropped out of the last practicum course because I was sick and couldn’t handle the stress. I took this failure very hard because I have always been a great student. I was getting depressed.
My faculty advisor stepped in and brought me in for a meeting. They bought me a cinnamon bun. She just sat next to me. She said that everything that happens in life has a purpose. This changed one of my biggest failures into a chance to grow and get stronger.
I lost my phone at a petrol station an hour from home on New Year’s Eve. I thought it had been stolen when I saw it moving with the “Find My Phone” app.
Then someone knocked on the door. The very nice petrol station worker found my address on a card with my phone and brought it to my house 20 miles away at 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve!
A couple of weeks ago, I dropped my daughter off at nursery for her first full day. It was my first week back at work after maternity leave. I had been dreading it, and I was upset when I got back to my car because my little girl was very upset when I dropped her off.
The mum who was going back to her car next to mine saw me trying to get myself together and came over to my car door to check on me and see if I was okay. She said she wanted to make sure I knew that things would get better, gave me a hug, and wished me luck at work. It was very nice of her, and it did help me feel better.
My dad, who is 80 years old, went to his village shop to buy a lightbulb that he and my mum really needed (my mum was recovering from surgery), but the shop was out of them. My dad started to explain (you know how they do!) that it was for the landing and they couldn’t see, etc., etc. A young workman/builder (there are two new housing estates going up nearby) asked my dad what kind he needed and told him to wait there. And the man drove to the next town in his car and got him one! He wouldn’t take any money for it when he came back. What a good person…
