12 Reader Comments on Kindness

Thanks for this reminder there are so many awesome people in the world.

I’m not crying, you’re crying. More of this in 2022!

Love these. People are good.

Well reading these comments are good if you want a good cry! Thanks for sharing.

I was visiting my mum while she was unconscious in hospital and it had just sunk in that she was dying. I was on my own that day and sank into a chair in the corridor outside her ward to collect myself for a moment. A young nurse passing by could see I was in a bit of a state, so without a word she simply sat down next to me and out her arm round my shoulders. It sounds like a small gesture when described here, but it meant the world to me at the time.

You’ve probably heard this a million times but a book full of cup of jo comments would be such a beautiful balm for the soul.

My spouse went on a run during quarantine last fall in our city’s downtown area. While he was running, he found a baby turtle on the sidewalk (very far from any water), heading into the middle of an intersection. My spouse found a big leaf and tried to get the turtle onto it. A lovely person experiencing homelessness was nearby and came over to help my spouse with the baby turtle (the leaf wasn’t strong enough so they were scrambling to find something stiffer!). I love imagining these two sensitive souls, both of them trying to social distance while attempting to save a baby turtle together (without touching the turtle, because ya never know) on whatever they could find on the sidewalk, in the middle of a large city’s downtown with lots of people walking quickly by who couldn’t have cared less. They eventually WERE able to find a stiff enough leaf, and my spouse walked the turtle 5 miles home on said leaf, where we brought the little turtle to a nearby pond. I swear that turtle imprinted on my spouse — every time we go to that pond now there is one now-adult turtle who swims right over to wherever he is. And my spouse always says to that turtle, “don’t forget, there was another person there that day, too.” <3

I had just had my second baby who unexpectedly ended up in the NICU. I was scared, exhausted and desperately sad alone in my recovery room seeing babies and their mamas together throughout the hallways and nestled in their rooms.

I received a call from the NICU in the middle of the night telling me they were going to have to feed my son through a tube in his nose because he wasn’t eating enough. I totally lost it. I was sure that we were missing critical bonding time and sure I would lose him.

At that moment a nurse appeared by my bedside – she held my hands and told me she had been in the NICU for six months and the doctors had told her parents not to give her a name because they didn’t think she would make it. She told me that she is incredibly close with her parents and that my son knew I would be right with him if I could be and that he felt my love floors away. I never believed in angles until that moment …

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. These stories are exactly what I needed to read today.

One fall I had been sick for weeks and weeks and was running late for the doctor who wasn’t going to let me in because I was more than 15 minutes late. I burst into tears and they finally let me in and the nurse gave me the biggest, lingering hug ever. It was exactly what I needed, that human contact that let me know it would be alright.

I am so heartened that there are already 162 stories of kindness—-so all is not lost in this crazy world after all. I have so many of my own that I could share, but wanted to just leave that comment. Also, Ted Lasso= Kindness. A great lesson.

My son is a very fast runner and I am… well, very slow. As soon as he could walk he RAN. I used to chase him all over our neighborhood while he ran as fast as he could, and he would try to run into people’s houses! I was chasing him around one time and yelling “Nooo!” as he tried to open the door of a house where I didn’t know the people who lived there. But they invited the little Toddler Terror into their house and let him poke around to his heart’s content. Finally we had to leave, and he had a toddler meltdown on the sidewalk outside. At that moment, our mail carrier appeared and offered my son a cookie. The tears stopped. Now, my son has long outgrown his toddler meltdown phase. We have a dog, and the dog is now in love with the mail carrier, who gives him dog cookies every time he sees him.

My son needed to go to detox and rehab for alcohol addiction. As we entered the detox facility I could see how nervous he was. The woman at the reception desk smiled at him and asked his name. She said “Thomas. We are so glad you are here.” The tears is been holding back came out in a rush and didn’t stop for a long time after I left him there. Sobriety is not a straight line but his life is so much better now. I will never ever forgot her kindness

I could cry. I love all of these. Thank you so much x

When I was in my 20’s many years ago, I traveled to Europe with one of my sisters for three weeks. It was the “Europe on Five Dollars” era. I said goodbye to her in London, where she was spending her junior year abroad. I traveled alone to Brussels, where I had to spend one night before flying home to the US. When I arrived, it was dark and pouring rain. I had to walk a long distance to my hotel. I was wearing one of those plastic ponchos. It was soaked. As I was walking, a car pulled up next to me. I was frightened, until I saw it was a young couple with two small children in the car. The driver asked if I wanted a ride somewhere. I said yes and climbed in the backseat, dripping wet, with the children. They drove me to my hotel. I was never so grateful in all my life! Before I said goodbye, I found a couple of Swiss chocolate bars in my backpack and gave them to the children. I was happy to have a little gift.

As an undergrad, I had a final exam that took place across campus, very late at night. By the time I was finished and headed home, most campus buses were finishing their routes or not running often. I kept to the well-lit, busier roads, but still tried to be sure to walk quickly. One of the campus buses whose route was finished, pulled over beside me. The woman driver opened the doors and asked me where I needed to get to, saying she didn’t want to leave me, a young woman, out that late. My dorm was across the street from the bus station, so she could have parked there and been done for the night, but she pulled into the dorm’s driveway and dropped me at the front door to be sure I’d get home safely. I hate that the real dangers for women are enough to have compelled her to do this, but I am so grateful to her for looking out for me. I think of that night often.

These stories are the very best! Thank you for giving me a lump in my throat and a warmed heart❤️❤️ The readership here just overflows with loveliness!

I was living on New York, away from my home, friends and family in the U.K. I had a three year old, a baby and a dog and my husband was working away in another country. That week my credit and debit card were compromised so my bank stopped them, snd I couldn’t use them or get any money out of my account. I find asking for help difficult so figured we’d manage with what we had food-wise and just not go anywhere until my husband returned. The only thing was we had a dog walker and he needed paying. I explained the situation and he said ‘no problem, pay me next week’. An hour later an envelope with $250 in was slid under my door. No name, no note. I will never forget that act of kindness in a city that most people think of as unfriendly. My dog walker was my hero, and I love telling everyone (especially cynical Brits) about the wonderful kindness of New Yorkers!

When I was in my semester of grad school at NYU, I had a job as the costume shop supervisor for the Stein school, and went there to work in the shop every morning before classes. NYU, as it turned out, was a terrible choice for me – I spent every day feeling lonely and alienated and knowing I’d made a wrong (and very expensive!) choice. But the security guard at the front desk of the building I worked in never failed to say hello to me every morning, and went out of his way, on days when I expect I was looking particularly downtrodden, to tell me something nice, like “Hey, Miss, they say it’s going to stop raining and the sun will be out by the time you leave.”

Eventually we talked enough that he knew my job was at the costume shop. One day, when I came in, he brought out his (clearly well-loved) bowling shirt and a new tournament patch he’d won and asked, very humbly, if maybe I could sew it on, because he was divorced and it was his wife who used to do it, and he had no idea how to sew. Of course I did, and refused to let him pay me when I dropped it off at the desk as I left for the day.

Not too long later, on one of those dreadful New York days with cold, blustery rain, he came all the way down to the shop (which was in the deepest subbasement) to bring me a cup of chili from Wendy’s and a little take-out container of white rice from the Chinese place next door. He delivered it all in a little bag and told me it was his favorite way to eat chili, and I needed something to warm me up on such an awful day.

I left NYU after that semester for a different program and the hardest person to say goodbye to was that security guard.

Yep I’m crying

Read these over breakfast with my husband and we cried through all of them! What a special gift when we all need a little kindness in our lives!

I had to cancel my dentist appointment because I had a miscarriage that turned out to be a molar pregnancy tumor that needed chemo. I sadly told the receptionist over the phone that I needed to cancel because I was going to be starting chemo. The next day I got a call from her just checking how I was doing and how chemo went, I still think of that.

Another time I had a newborn and at the playground my 4 year old wouldn’t come down from the v top of a more complicated playground structure slide. I didnt have a baby carrier. A kind lady offered to hold baby while I went to get my 4 year old.

Also we travel stand by and always thankful for kind people on planes who move for my family to sit closer.

A couple of years ago, I had an ectopic pregnancy.

We were living in a foreign country, where we knew almost no one. Therefore, my husband couldn’t be with me at the hospital, as he had to look after our 2 young children.

I was young, alone, scared, and loosing my very wanted baby. After signing the consent form for the treatments, in a language that was not my own, I cried my eyes out. Making everything worse, my two roommates were in active labour.

An old lady, who was there to support one of the other pregnant girls, came to me. She asked why I was crying. I don’t remember what I answered, something like “I am loosing my baby”. She asked if I had other children. I said I had two. She then told me:
“I won’t tell you that you can have other children, because you are a mom, and know that no child, present or future, can replace the one you are loosing. I am so sorry. I am old. I am a mom too. I can tell you two things: First, your living children need you. No one else can be their mom. This would kill you if you didn’t sign the consent form for treatments. Second, this two shall pass. This pain will be with you forever, but it will ease over time, and you will be able to value your blessings again”.

She then just stayed there for a while, holding my hand, and cleaning my tears. I went on to have two more children and loose another one. I think about that lady often. I don’t even know her name. Yet, she was capable of this extraordinary act of kindness towards me. I will always be grateful.