View Full Version : Random Acts of Kindness - Given or Received
I thought it might be nice to start a log of things that we do for others or that others do for us. The things that surprise us or touch us & that are often totally unexpected but that make life so much sweeter.
Did someone let you go ahead of them in a busy grocery line? Did you shovel someone's sidewalk? Pay for someone's coffee?
I hope that as we post things here, not as bragging, but as a sharing of gratitude & ideas we will inspire each other to perform even more Random Acts of Kindness.
I'll start off. My wonderful DH has done the dishes for 3 days in a row!
My mom is in her mid 80's, lives alone by choice, and has breathing issues that can make going outdoors difficult. Her neighbor, older than she is and in pretty good health, always brings her empty garbage can back to the house from the curb. I think he does it for some of the other neighbors, too. Such a kind thing to do, and very much appreciated!
It is the little things that make such a difference to someone. We have one neighbour who makes a point of spending one hour a week visiting a shut-in neighbour and has done this for about a year or more.
Our neighbor regularly shovels our walk and mows our grass. And sometimes my dad sends me food when I am sick.
Every year for many years now, an anonymous someone (or someones) puts Xmas decorations on a large pine tree in the median of a major roadway between north and south AZ. They've never been caught, and now it's a tradition to see it every Xmas season. It's really fun for travelers to spot it. So thanks to whoever is doing this, it's very appreciated!
I went to watch a game at a local bar with my sister and brother-in-law and I pretty much was fed up with my sister's continual lamenting about how hard she worked because she had 23 people for Christmas dinner and then threw a New Year's Eve party. Mind you, she doesn't work outside her home. I do and I spent the better part of both holiday weekends helping her clean her house and cook.
While there we engaged our young waitress in conversation (and yes, my sister went on a rant with her about how exhausted she was and how hard it was to throw two parties). Somehow it came up that the waitress had 11 year old twins and a 4 year old. She's a single mom, working, and is planning to move in a less expensive subsidized apartment so she can go back to school. This young lady was working her butt off and still had one of the most upbeat attitudes I've encountered in a long time. It made my sister's negative outlook so much more apparent. In spite of the fact that my brother-in-law picked up our tab, I gave that young lady the $40 I had in my purse and told her how exceptional she was. It was the perfect antidote to the pity fest. It made my day and I sincerely hope it made hers.
Charity, that is so nice, and you can bet she'll remember that for a long long time!
People like your sister who create their own frazzled chaos make me tired and I refuse to play with them.
i donated my hair today......... gosh i feel naked
Good for you Poco! I would love to do that but my hair just does not grow good enough.
Charity - that was a really nice thing to do!
Lainey - that would make me smile too.
Way to go Poco! How I see it, it's a beautiful naked.
Iris Lilly, I'm slowly learning how to deal with my sister better. Wish me luck.
Ooo! This sounds like the continuation of the Rave thread. Yay!
Mine: DSS spent a few nights with us over her winter break, and was present, non-defensive, warm and engaged. A very nice change! I'm proud of her for her maturation and coming into her adulthood.
We had DD in to the emergency room last night (she is fine - just some weird new seizure activity that freaked us out a bit) & everyone there was so nice. Someone went & got me a glass of water. Another person told me a funny story when he saw I was a bit stressed. The neurologist on duty was very sweet with DD.
Every Christmas I pick a family that financially struggles and send them cash in a Christmas card. They don't know who sends it and I feel I have made a difference.
catherine
1-10-11, 11:00am
My BIL lives next door and since his mother died, now lives alone. We visit him daily, using kind of a makeshift path between bushes between our yards. After the recent snowstorm, we noticed that when he went out to shovel, he also shoveled the little path between our houses. That made me happy because sometimes I wonder if he likes us imposing ourselves on him every day, twice a day. But I figure if he didn't want us over, he wouldn't have shoveled our little path!
The other day I did the grocery shopping for an aged neighbor whose DH is in a distant hospital having cancer surgery.
The next day we had a record-breaking 25 inch snowfall and a different neighbor cleared my driveway with his snow blower.
I love how good things go around!
Well, it's nothing big... but at Aldi's today I forgot to get my quarter out of the cart. Started to turn back to get it & decided. Nah. Let someone else get a nice surprise. And I left several nice coupons on the shelves at Meijer. I couldn't use them but maybe someone else can.
treehugger
1-14-11, 6:13pm
I live in the SF Bay Area, where there are several toll bridges. Years ago (before we had electronic toll passes), a stranger ahead of us paid our toll. We were so surprised and tickled that we did that periodically afterwards for others. The ability to perform that random act of kindness is a thing of the past though.
Here's one that greatly touched my life and I will never forget it. My DH and I planned a trip to the De Young Museum in SF to see the special Dale Chihuly (glassblower) exhibit, which we had wanted to see for a long time. Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, we had to go on the last day and couldn't buy tickets ahead of time. When we got there, we found out tickets for the special exhibit were sold out. Oh no! So upsetting, but nothing to be done.
We were hungry so we decided to go to the cafe before deciding whether we would pay admission to at least see the permanent exhibits, or just go home. While standing in the cafe line, we were talking about our situation and the couple in front of us turned around and asked if we needed tickets to get into the special exhibit. When I told them they were sold out, they said they were museum members and had extra tickets they didn't need, and we could have them for free! Wow, DH and I were blown away by this kindness.
We toured the exhibit and it was as amazing and thought-provoking as we thought it would be and we will never, ever forget either the art or the kindness of strangers.
Random acts of kindness always come back to you many times over. I have lots of examples of that in my life; I'm very fortunate.
I was at the doctor's office today for a routine procedure, and a young mom came in with 2 girls ages about 6 and 4, and twin infants! As she was trying to get checked in, and keep one of the kids from touching everything in sight, I changed the TV channel from a news channel to the one with "Dora the Explorer."
Yesterday I saw a fairly large turtle in the middle of the road, who was at great risk of getting hit by a car. I picked him/her up and moved him to the grass and pointed him towards the pond.
Also, someone knocked down a row of those free newsstand/real estate guide/Pennysaver machines a few days ago. No one had stood them back up (except the one that sold the local paper), so I picked them all up to tidy up the neighborhood a little.
A random act of kindness received recently was that a lovely family we don't know left a sweet little Purim basket on our doorstep. I know it was a family because they left a note saying "Happy Purim! From Suri, David, Eva and Adam" and their last name. I still don't know who these people are, but am very touched!
Sad Eyed Lady
4-3-11, 1:45pm
Yesterday I saw a fairly large turtle in the middle of the road, who was at great risk of getting hit by a car. I picked him/her up and moved him to the grass and pointed him towards the pond.
Also, someone knocked down a row of those free newsstand/real estate guide/Pennysaver machines a few days ago. No one had stood them back up (except the one that sold the local paper), so I picked them all up to tidy up the neighborhood a little.
A random act of kindness received recently was that a lovely family we don't know left a sweet little Purim basket on our doorstep. I know it was a family because they left a note saying "Happy Purim! From Suri, David, Eva and Adam" and their last name. I still don't know who these people are, but am very touched!
How nice, both what you have done and what you have received! Random acts of kindness are such wonderful things and I am sorry to say that for the most part I forget to do any unless I have kind of planned to. The spontaneous ones are really the best though. Maybe today I will look for an opportunity to do a random act of kindness due to your influence Selah!
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