kind action

Interesting and uplifting. Cannot tell you the number of times my suitcase has been transported up a flight of stairs for me both in Edinburgh and London.. Wonderful. However, it has been asked of me - by members of the younger generation, I might add - 'what would you do if they kept on going with it?' Do you know, that never entered my head. Now that it has, I still gladly accept. I'll take my chances on that one.

This has really cheered me up

I do agree that we tend to hear more about the bad things that happen in life. There are many good things which lift our spirits but do not make it into the newspaper. Perhaps as well as trying to do a daily good deed we should try to comment on one and make ourselves more aware of the positive side of human nature.

You hear a lot about big cities being impersonal and people to busy rushing about to notice others, especially in America. But twice in New York and once in Boston people stopped to ask if we needed help when they saw us looking at a map. In Boston the man actually walked part of the way with us. Also in London I was struggling up the steps at Black Friars station with my suitcase when a young man took it from me and carried it to the top of the steps. It restores your faith in humanity!

I'm currently walking with a stick and have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of people (of all ages) who open doors for me, let me through crowds, let me go first, etc. Believe me I've nor been standing around "expecting " this help - it just happens. Truly people can be lovely!

Years ago I was dropping my daughter at the ferry terminal as she was taking the ferry to Scotland. Somehow we got lost and were on the wrong side of the bridge. A group of rough looking boys suggested we took her luggage and ran across the bridge. They would look after the car. We had no choice but to trust them, as the ferry was about to leave. When I eventually got back to my car they were standing there as promised and brushed off my thanks.

I parked my car entirely legally on the side of a road one day to go to work, dropping my daughter off at school en route. We returned together in the afternoon to find the car a complete write off, such a shock. An elderly couple were sitting in deckchairs in their garden near by and immediately came over to offer a cup of tea with scones and use of their telephone. Turns out they had heard the crash and had been waiting most of the afternoon for us. They had even gone to the shops for squash for my daughter! We stayed until a low loader arrived to take the car away. Daughter wrote them a lovely thank you letter with pictures of flowers all round the margins and we took it round the next day, they were chuffed to bits.

I've experienced many small kindnesses and I hope have given many in return. One that springs to mind though was when on holiday in Belgium our car was broken into while we stopped for lunch in Brussels. We needed to get the broken window repaired before continuing our journey. Our insurers instructed us to go to a particular garage, but with no sat nav back then, and no knowledge of the city, and closing time fast approaching, a young Belgian man who'd been helping us got in his car and let us follow him across the city to the garage. He said he knew how we felt as he'd had a similar experience in London! I hope someone helped him in his time of need!
They say "what goes around comes around" and we all need to be willing to help others in these ways when we can.

Ah yes, small acts of kindness can make someone's day. The delivery man left a large parcel exactly where I told him. I then had a major problem manhandling it. He came back and helped me sort it out, which was really kind of him as they are under so much time pressure.

Random acts of kindness is what makes life more pleasant. I have been the recipient of many.
My ol dad always used to say that you can never repay a kindness - the best way is to do one to someone else. Wise words!
Thank you OP for a heart-warming thread

Years ago I used to run evening sessions at youth clubs. My heavily (pretty much 9 months) pregnant sister was giving me a lift to one of these when she ran out of petrol. A group of young lads from one of these clubs happened to be passing, stopped, asked what the problem was, and one lad syphoned enough petrol from his vehicle into my sister's car - enough for her to drive to the garage. The lads wouldn't accept any payment but a cigarette each (from me, not my sister!) They said they couldn't bear the thought of leaving her in such a dodgy area at night. I knew these lads were all from very deprived backgrounds and was touched by their willingness to help.

Just last week, I took DH (who has PD and dementia) out in the car by myself to a park. He managed the short walk from the car to a bench, but then couldn't turn around to sit down. A young lady, sitting on the grass nearby, jumped up and came to help and we succeeded. We weren't seated long when he became agitated. I couldn't get him up from the bench, but the same lady appeared and helped me get him up onto his feet, and, luckily, insisted that she walked with us to the car. By the time we covered that short distance, we were bearing his weight. I wouldn't have managed on my own. Two conclusions - people can be so kind, and, I won't take him out by myself again!

I think this thread proves that you can not judge a book by its cover.

I have had many small kindness.

However my sister and I always said that our father had an Angel on his shoulder.
He was proundly deaf from a young age but fiercely independent and had the travel bug.
As a young man he worked in South Africa. Often he and his workers (native south Africans) would travel miles into virtually the middle of nowhere
One one such occasion my father had the misfortune to be bitten by a poisonous snake which resulted in him becoming unconscious.

He woke up in hospital having been apparently delerious for several days.
His workers had managed to get him to hospital and handed the snake over so that it could be identified for an antidote.
We are eternally grateful for their quick thinking and the speed they must have travelled to get him to hospital.

Sitting by the side of my fathers bed was a man and woman.
They had heard about a young Scots man who had been extremely ill and whose family were thousands of miles away.

To cut a long story short they took him (complete stranger) back to their home and nursed him back to health.

My father and this wonderful couple together with their children became life long friends.

Years ago I was an Air Hostess based at Gatwick airport - it was a very different place in those days, very countrified. Going home from a late flight about 3 a.m. In the middle of the countryside on a pitch black night my car ground to a halt, no lights nothing! I knew nobody would be coming along for hours, absolutely terrified I decided to walk hoping it wouldn't take long to find a phone box. You keep expecting people to jump out from behind bushes, I know completely stupid. I finally walked into a bus station repair shop in tears and couldn't have been more kindly treated, a hot cup of tea and kind words helped sort me out. I have never forgotten that kindness. I try and help people whenever I can.

That reminds me of a driving related kindness, years ago.
I was out driving with my 3 young children and got a flat tyre. No idea how to change a wheel.
A group of Hells Angels on their motor bikes zoomed up and stopped. I was a bit apprehensive but they had the flat wheel off and the spare on in no time. Then zoomed off again.
I've noticed that a lot of these stories refer to helpful males.

ps yes very heartwarming stories, thanks to all.

I was in a coffee shop a few weeks ago and when I went to pay for my coffee I didn't have any loose change, so got out my debit card.

Unfortunately it was my old one, which had just expired. My new one was at home in a different handbag! I was so embarrassed. The lovely young man behind the counter, stopped me mid grovelling apology and said the coffee was on him. What a kind gesture. I went back to pay him the next day - and buy him a lunchtime drink, but it was his day off. However, the owner of the shop was very impressed by his gesture too and said she'd put an extra tenner in his wage packet that week for providing excellent customer service. I offered to supply the ten pounds but she wouldn't have it.

I have now directed all my friends to that nice little coffee shop.

pps to my post above, I found this on Wiki about Hells Angels:
"Motto: "Angels Forever, Forever Angels" (traditional) "When we do right, nobody remembers. When we do wrong, nobody forgets." (unspecific, one-percenter saying)"
So if there are any Hells Angels on here - this time you're remembered - Thanks!

Have totally loved reading this thread.
As a teenager, I was on the train to London with my father many years ago and, as we approached our destination, were discussing the need for change for the bus. After some conversation back and forth, we realised we were short by a small amount but were staggered when a female passenger leant forward and pressed the right amount into my hand, dashing off before we could refuse. I’ve never forgotten that act of kindness and look for opportunities to do the same when I can.

I was chatting to a new U3A member, who had had a very difficult time when her husband died suddenly. She had to sell their house in Portugal, move back to the UK and find a new home, while coping with her loss.
The bungalow she bought had a garden crowded with overgrown shrubs, and two fairly large conifers growing only feet from the house. She was worried about them damaging the foundations, but also about the cost of having them removed.
I told my son about her, and I'm proud to say that he spent several days cutting down the trees, pruning her shrubs, and making numerous trips to the local tip with the remains. He also found her a new front gate on ebay, fitted it, and sanded and painted her metal driveway and side gates. She was determined to give him something 'for his trouble' so he asked for a small donation for the local Scout troop. He is a leader there.
I have had many kindnesses done for me, over the years, and always try to pay them forward. I hope that someone will do the same for him, when he needs help.

Forty eight years ago my parents-in-law, with their seven and four year old sons were on holiday in Norway when their car broke down in a rural area. The local garage owner fetched his brother, a schoolteacher who spoke English, and he explained to them that the car needed a part that was unavailable until the next day.

The schoolteacher took the little family home to stay with his own family for the night and so began a lasting friendship. My husband, who was the seven year old boy when they met, has today flown out to Norway, with his dad, to be a pallbearer at the schoolteacher's funeral tomorrow - where he will also give a tribute in the fluent Norwegian he's been speaking for almost fifty years. From our very dear friend's act of kindness a relationship has grown up between the two families that spans four generations and has enriched our lives in oh so many ways.

During my own first meeting with this wonderfully kind man he told me that he regarded my husband as another son and now he was glad that he also had another daughter - me.

Tomorrow my heart will be in Norway.

What a lovely collection of posts. I, too, have had men carrying my heavy suitcase up station stairs without being asked. Bless them. As said before, we hear so much about how society is going to the dogs. And how awful the young are today. A load of rubbish, but unfortunately it's the bad apples who get remembered.

And grannyactivist, what a heartwarming post.

Some years ago we were on a long overnight flight from Atlanta. Across the aisle was a young woman with 3 children, a 6 months old baby, a toddler and a 5 year old. A couple of hours after takeoff I could see the woman struggling with the children and all were tired. I offered to hold the baby while she sorted the older 2 out and got a few hours sleep. She was so very grateful. When we were landing a member of the cabin crew came past and said what a very kind thing to do, helping with the baby. I didn't even think about it, it was just instinctive to help. I think most people are willing to help each other, it's the little things that make you happiest.

This is such a lovely thread. It does well now and then to be reminded how most ordinary people lead their lives. The world is not necessarily full of violence, threats and acquisitiveness as is constantly portrayed in the media.