What is the kindest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

[user83921]

What is the kindest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

I have suffered with terrible depression for most of my life. A few years ago I was put in a mental health unit because I had tried to kill myself and I didn't feel safe.
I was 19 and the youngest person in the unit. I was in there with people who had had far worse lives than me, and yet they rallied round to make me feel safe and comfortable. Always making me cups of tea, playing music etc. and generally having a laugh. I was terrified and I had felt so alone and helpless until I got there.
It was genuinely probably the best thing that ever happened to me going there. I truly believe those people saved my life. Under different circumstances, or if I was placed somewhere else, I think I would be dead now.

One man that was in there said to me "you are the girl that wins every day" and that has really stuck with me. Every day I don't give in to depression, or helplessness, or loneliness, or the voice in the back of your head that says you're shit, I win.
And I win because of those people.

My dad has alzheimers and up until last Summer had lived at home under the care of my mother. He had a habit most evenings of putting on his jacket and going out the front door as far as the gate. He would stop there and the neighbours would meet and greet him and then he would come back in about 5 minutes later. One evening he did this but didn't stop at the gate this time, just kept walking. It was a couple of minutes before my mum realised and she just grabbed her coat and keys and ran after him but he had disappeared at this stage. A search party was set up locally as he was very slow on his feet and we figured that he couldn't have gotten very far. The police were called - it was all very scary. We had visions of him lying in someones garden after having a heart attack or some such. Anyway it transpired that as he got to the end of our road a bus pulled in at the same time and he just got on and ended up in town (Dublin City). This all happened at about 8pm at night. Around 11.30pm we got a call from a police station in town to say that he had been found. He had hailed a taxi and the taxi driver realised what was wrong and drove him straight to the garda station and as he had been reported earlier they knew immediately who he was. My mum spoke to the taxi driver later to thank him and tried to reward / pay him but he was having none of it. He just said that his own mum also had alzheimers and hoped that someone would do the same if something similar happened.

my daily aim is to do or say at least 3 kind acts each day... I find it lifts my self esteem, makes me smile and I am genuinely pleased to (hopefully) make a difference

@Se7en11

And kindest gesture someone has done for you?

Oh! Totally misunderstood!

For me?.. Box booked me a taxi to get me home from work when I put my back out - massively long journey and a black cab so super expensive

Sent me some flowers to my home address after I had handed in their wallet to the police station

It's only a minor thing compared to some of these posts but 2 years ago I'd booked a camping holiday for me, 2 DSs and my then boyfriend. BF walked out on us the week before the holiday and I knew I couldn't cancel as the boys were so looking forward to it. Drove 4 hours to the campsite and then struggled for what felt like hours to put the tent up. DS1 was only 7 and unable to help and panic was beginning to set in. A woman from the campsite just came up to me, put her hand on my shoulder and said 'don't worry we'll sort it'. Cue me bursting into tears while two men from her group put my tent up for me. She sent the kids from her group over to play with mine and offered me wine. Such a small gesture but I've never forgotten it.

In Greece for BILs wedding. Out to dinner with just my other half, when he had some kind of seizure.

It was terrifying I had no idea what to do. The restaurant staff took over and were wonderful, but the real above and beyond kindness came from the taxi driver who took us to hospital. He refused to leave until we were seen, kept chasing things up on our behalf and when they eventually took my partner through they wouldn't let me go with him. Mr taxi man stayed with me the entire time until they admitted my other half.

He refused to accept any money, and I was (and still am) so so grateful. The a&e waiting room in the Rhodes hospital was terrifying I was so pleased he wouldn't leave me as there were what he told me were drug addicts wandering around hassling for money.

We obviously got him to take us to the airport when it was time to go home and left him a very generous tip but still!

Oh and other half was fine, and eventually discharged the day before the wedding! All's well that ends well 😁

A passerby who happened to be a midwife checked me over in the back of an ambulance when I was in labor and then gave the ambulance drivers the nod to take me to a hospital an hour away. I will forever offer up prayers to that angel.

This really sounds so insignificant and it happened many years ago. I was a very young Mother and had two little boys a year apart. I had taken them to the library and was working really hard to keep in control, the boys were behaving well, they returned the book to the basket, they cane when I shouted them etc. I was 20 and I looked a lot younger and was getting fed up of judgement.

A lady who Looked professional, older and respectable collared me as I was leaving and tapped me on the shoulder. I was desperate to get home. She simply told me what wonderfully behaved children they were, how I should be so proud of them and the job I was doing.

Such a simple thing, insignificant. But I carried that with me for many years and when I look at my now grown, loving boys whom I have a wonderful relationship with, I think of that lady because that one sentence made me believe that yes I was doing a great job and no matter how hard it felt, someone had noticed.

Kindness causes ripples.

I was downtown Xmas shopping a few years ago. I had just finished and was on the bus home when I had an epileptic seizure. I was taken to hospital and when I came round a few hours later I realised that all my shopping bags were gone. I was raging as I had spent a few hundred quid that evening. I got home the following day and my neighbour dropped in to me and said that some man had dropped them in for me the night before. Whilst he didn't know me he recognised me and knew where I lived. I couldn't believe it as I had written them off the night before.

When my DD was very ill in hospital and I stepped outside the ward to sit on a chair in the corridor and just sob, a lovely lady came over held me hand and told me all about her son who had a similar condition and was almost ready to go home. I was terrified for my DD and it really helped.

I just had a lovely random act of kindness. I had phoned the doctor for an appointment this morning and I specifically asked for a woman. It's a nightmare trying to get out of work for an appointment so I was pleased it was for 4.30. When I did the self check in the computer confirmed my appointment with a man doctor. When I spoke to the receptionist she said there were no appointments and did I really need to see a woman! I could feel myself getting emotional and a woman in the waiting room said I'm seeing a lady doctor you can swap with me. Kind of her or I would have had to gone back next week!