Have you seen any small acts of kindness lately?

[Niceness2026]

There is so much hate just now and fear. Sometimes it can feel like the whole human race is doomed. So I wondered if anyone wanted to share some positive actions by a fellow human recently?

I'd start

I was in tesco the other day and I picked up some cheap handcream ( cheap does me fine) At the checkout it turned out the cream cost almost 15 pound !! Which is something I would never pay especially when the cheap stuff does me fine. So I asked the lady if I could put it back. ( She also said it was a rip off lol) .

There was a man behind me who then offered to buy me it as he thought i didn't have the money. I obviously explained i just simply thought it wasn't worth that much which is why I put it back.

It was such a nice thing to offer to a complete stranger.❤

I was 3p short in tesco and the lady let me scan my shopping anyway 🤷‍♀️ that was kind

Not like the old days of cash where you'd be let off, it was a bit of a palaver for her

That was kind 😇

In our local corner shop an elderly lady didn't have enough money to pay and was deciding what things to put back, a young man in the queue behind (looked like a workman buying his lunch) said don't worry I'll pay for it, so nice and restores your confidence in young people.

My child and their partner both enact kindness in so many ways.

A recent one was during the May heatwave. Child's partner was in the local Tesco. At checkout an old person, who child's partner had seen in the distance walking to the shop, realised they didn't have their purse with them, and would return home to get the purse.

child's partner knew how far the shopper would need to walk, in temperatures over 30 degrees, so stepped in and told the cashier they would pay instead. Despite old persons protestations, child's partner explained that their own Mum was nearly 100, and i (we share a house) was disabled, and they were paying in the hope that someone else would do the same for us some day.

Both of them are so very kind. I could fill pages with the random acts of kindness they've done.

goodness knows, they're not saints. But they try hard, and more often than not succeed in being decent members of society.

Yes, a lovely lady in the supermarket queue had a trolley full of shopping. When she saw I had a basket, even though it was fairly full, she said I could go in front of her. I was extremely grateful and we ended up having a lovely chat

Also, a young lady has just moved into a house near me. When she realised that an extremely elderly lady lived a couple of doors away and all the neighbours are doing things to help her, she asked what she could do to help

There are some lovely people about . . .

I own a shop and cut myself with some scissors while I was talking to a customer. I had run out of plasters as I can only wear hypoallergenic ones so wrapped a tissue around my finger and explained this to the customer I was chatting to. She returned ten minutes later with plasters for me. Such a sweet gesture.

Not one act but my work has just announced massive redundancies, it's heartwarming how people have rallied round each other, offering to trade skills, up skill more junior staff and help with CVs.

Yes people on buses offering their seat or offering to move so a mum can sit down near her pushchair or children.

In Poundland last week.Lady only had £2 for her £3 item,man in the queue paid for it,she went off happily still with her £2 in her hand.

A lovely gentleman held his umbrella over me during a heavy downpour yesterday until we got into a shop.

I did buy an old lady her sourdough loaf at the bakery this morning - as they are card only and she only had cash!!

then like karma - I took my daughter for a burger in a local place we go regularly after school today and the owner gave us free desert!

Yes, in my dog walking community people help each other all the time with dog sitting, free garden plants, DIY, house plant sitting, health checks, knitting for newborns, free cakes, and just general kindness and friendship. It’s really humbling to see so much generosity of spirit towards neighbours and acquaintances. The world would be a better place if we all had a community like this. I used to think of myself as a hardcore existentialist, but I’ve discovered that being part of a community means you’re not alone, and you matter to others. Who ever knew.

And may I add that this group is made up of English, Swedish, Canadian, Hong Konger, Kazakh, German, Turkish, Kiwi, South African, Irish, French, Italian, American, Indian (Sikh, Hindu and Christian) etc people. I’m sick of hearing about identity politics. People are being brought together in the most wonderful way in this country. Can we stop focussing on the divide, and look at the universal values that bring us together?

This sums it up nicely.

I'm 39w pregnant and was in the supermarket last weekend with my toddler, piling my groceries on the conveyor. A lady behind me just had a basket so I told her to go ahead in front of me to save her time.

She obviously realised i was struggling with leaning in and out of the trolley 😂 By the time my groceries started going through the register, the lady was at the end and started packing my groceries! I actually nearly cried.

I thought I was being kind and saving her time but she was much kinder!

I work at an FE college and one of the students opened a door for me today and let me through first. Such a small thing in some ways, but he was with his mates so possibly wasn't small to him. Similar happens about once a week. It always makes me smile and I hope their mum's are proud of them!

My card wouldn't work on the bus and it was over a hours walk back home in the rain and the bus driver let me and my daughter get on the bus for free, I was so grateful, he has no idea how much I appreciated that. ( especially as my daughter had her coat taken from school by someone)

I popped into my local corner shop the other day. The young indian lad behind the counter was on the phone to 111 because there was a lady in there who is an alcoholic and she didn't look well, was mumbling and very shaky. He sat her down and gave her some water then got on the phone and arranged for her to go to a&e and called a taxi to take her. He was so kind and gentle with her and it really made me a bit emotional. I see this lady around town a lot and always try and have a little chat, she seems very vulnerable so it was nice to see someone looking out for her.

Love this thread.

Am in a miserable, toxic place at the moment and will read and relax and do a good deed each day. I know that will help.

This thread also remind me to practice gratitude.

I was out for a walk a few days ago. I heard a man call out to a lady walking her dog and asked her if she wanted to put her dog poo bag in his black bin. Given how many times you see people complaining that someone put something in their bin, I thought that was really kind of him.

Yes, I was waiting for a train the other day and a lady fell down the stairs with her suitcase. She was luckily unharmed but it was lovely to see everyone on the platform immediately rush to help her. A terrifying looking youth who you’d be wary of passing in the underground offered to carry her case up for her all the way over the bridge. Men, women, all ethnicities. We have far more in common than we have dividing us.

I see little things daily.

Neighbours putting the bins back for neighbours who are out, or struggle with mobility.
Neighbours lending each other things
Neighbours offering each other things (eg spare seedlings and plants)
People giving others lifts
People let the person with one or two items go in front of them at the supermarket
People handing the ticket that still has an hour's parking on it over to a stranger (sadly, becoming harder now with entering registration numbers)
People offering seats on public transport

So many little acts that help make the world a better place.

Oh yes, we have a lovely neighbour who when mowing his lawn will always mow the elderly man next door to him and the single mother 2 doors up garden too.

Similarly when we power washing our driveway and paths, we do our next door neighbours and when he does his he does ours. Never a question, we just get on with it as it's not really much more bother but appreciated on both sides.

A friend of my mother, in her 70s, arrives every Friday to my parents door and leaves a fresh tart in exchange for a dozen fresh eggs from my Dad.

Yesterday on the train after a long day I didn't realise I had a ticket to only go on one train provider, the ticket inspector let me off, when he could have fined me or made me buy another £50 ticket for that network.

Saw a warden lurking by a car near the outdoor gym I use, waiting to give it a ticket so I used the app to pay for the parking for an hour. Someone did that for me once. Warden went off and 20 mins later someone came back to the car.