HelpOthers.org: Anonymous Acts of Kindness

Lessons from a Mother's Love

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

About eight years ago, I was a new teacher in the local women's minimum security jail, where most of the inmates are incarcerated for drug offenses.

During one of my classes, a woman was crying and in a lot of pain. Her 17-year-old daughter had been recently assaulted. She wanted to see her, but had no way to get to the hospital 30 miles away which cares for children with no health insurance. Having a daughter the same age, I asked the superintendent if it would be possible for me to drive the woman to the hospital. I was granted permission to escort her for three hours on the following Saturday.

I found some nice clothes for the mother to wear and I borrowed my friend's blue convertible. On the 30 minute drive to the hospital, we rode with the top down and sang to the songs from the disks I brought. We were both in good spirits when we arrived at the hospital.

Her daughter was in worse shape than either of us could imagine. Her body was contorted and she did not recognize her mother who was visibly shaken to see her lovely daughter so frail and deathly. I encouraged her to massage her daughter's hands, stroke her face and talk to her softly. I asked if there were any lullabies she sang to her daughter as a child. She said no, so I sang some of the songs I used to sing my daughter to sleep.

We stood outside of the hospital after spending about an hour and a half with her daughter. The mother was in a deep state of depression and hopelessness, as well as guilt in not being there to care for her daughter. She wept, and I held her silently in my arms.
A few weeks later, I learned that her beautiful daughter had passed away. That Saturday was the last time her mother would see her, speak to her, stroke her.

While it may seem as though I did a good deed, it was I who was given a tremendous gift. Life can be fleeting and fragile, and we really never know how it will unfold. That afternoon, I was reminded to never take those I love for granted....

Smile Cards In Class

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

I am a 6th grade teacher and I use Smile cards in my class!
I assign each student one on Tuesdays. They have a week to use it and then they write about it the following week.

At first they were hesitant - but now they love it and can't wait until they get a new one! It's helping them realize how being kind makes them feel good about themselves and makes others smile :)
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An Umbrella to Brighten a Day

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

On my way to work I would see this older man sitting beside the road and waving at everyone who passed by. I noticed that he sat there every day even if it was raining or very hot outside.

One day while going to work I remembered that I had a beach umbrella at my house, so I turned around, got the umbrella, and took it to him. He was so happy and for about another six months I saw him sitting beside the road waving at people from under the umbrella.

I later found out that the man had passed away, but I hope that the umbrella made his days more pleasant while he was making everyone else's days more pleasant.
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Sunday Night Kindness Deliveries

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Last night was date night with my little girl. She wanted to conduct another Kindness "Special Ops" Mission for our evening. That afternoon, we made up some kindness envelopes full of a smile cards, a few dollars and a special note. She decorated the outside of the envelopes with smiley stickers and the words "Open me, I’m a gift for you!" She wanted to go to the mall and secretly place envelopes around to spread some Christmas smiles.

When we dropped our first one and walked off without being seen, the look on my daughter's face was priceless. She was beaming and had a joyful kick in her step. I love how she loves our kindness missions! For the next one, we sat down at a table for a minute, ready to scurry off and leave our envelope behind. The heavy sea of people around us made it challenging. My daughter is getting very good though at helping provide cover when we need it so we can remain anonymous. Practice helps!

Her favorite thing is to go up the escalator and spy on our envelope to see if we can watch it be found. We were only able to witness one last night, but it was fun to watch him open it. We had a lot of fun and we even left one for our waitress after we ate dinner. We are sure she smiled when she opened it, even if we weren't there to watch. Can’t get caught!

During our journey we saw the Salvation Army Christmas Angel trees. She was very excited to pick an angel from the tree. When we went to register it, Rachel gave all of her information. I saw how the woman smiled at her and loved that my little one understands the true spirit of giving. She even told the woman what we were going to buy him from his list. I just smiled and watched her do her thing.

When we got home, she excitedly told her Mom all the things we had done and said we had the best date ever. I couldn’t agree more!...

Rice In Chennai Station

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

I was having something to eat at the central railway station in Chennai when I noticed an old man entering the canteen. He asked the man behind the counter for some food but, as he obviously couldn't pay, none was forthcoming.

So, I indicated to the canteen worker to serve some rice and paid for it without the old man noticing.

The old man had the food and left. And I was left with a warm feeling of love and compasion.

"It is in giving that one receives." Thank you Saint Francis of Assisi!

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Teaching English Helped Him Be Seen Again

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

I am an Iranian man who has been battling cancer for the past two years. A transpant has meant things have been better over the past six months. It means I have a lot more time to spend online learning new things.

I have a friend in England who is really feeling home-sick. It's making him quite depressed. He would tell me that he didn't want to do stuff, he just wanted to be left alone, and so on. But I didn't want to leave him in his depression.

So, I asked him if he could teach me English! Even though we were far apart we could communicate by Skype. He jumped from his seat towards the computer in his enthusiasm! "Yes! I'd really like to do that! Can I do that? Please?"

Now, after a few lessons, I can see him becoming happier and more energetic again!

In am sixty-two years old and I understand how important it is to feel that you are being seen, that you aren't invisible! This one simple thing has helped us both be seen again.

Thank you for reading this!
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A Smiling Face at the Store

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

I needed to get some supplies to clean the house this weekend, so I headed over to a local store. While walking through the aisles there, I realized that I wasn't smiling at anyone. That was out of character. I almost always smile at strangers with the hope that it might brighten their day a bit. But in that particular moment, my mind was focused on events that had bothered me earlier in the day.

Not really in the mood to smile, I thought, Oh well, and continued through the store. When I went to check out my things, I was met with a very long line. People were stocking up on Christmas gifts and things for the holidays. To help minimize the first line, a second register opened up. I quickly switched over to the it. After a few moments, I began to notice that all the people in front of me had a lot of items to check out, and I was hit with impatience.
So I switched back to the first line. After a short while, the people in the second line had all checked out. I was still standing in the first line.

"Ma'am, I can take you," a voice spoke.
When I looked up, I realized he was speaking to the lady behind me.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally my turn to check out. As I placed my items down, I noticed that the man behind the register seemed so cheerful! He greeted me with a huge smile.

"It's nice to finally see a smiling face in this store," I commented.
He responded by saying he loves to smile, because you never know what people are going through. At that moment, he reminded me of myself.

Something in me shifted, and we began talking about kindness-- about how it goes a long way. There was no one behind me, so we talked and laughed for awhile. What a gift, to be cheered up by this kind young man.

I suddenly had all the time in the world....