To think the kindness of strangers can restore your faith in humanity

[Geegeehadid]

A warm fuzzy thread please - was thinking a couple of examples recently that made me so grateful for the kindness shown. One when my husband was in hospital after a serious accident the Uber driver insisted he wanted to give me the journey for free (I insisted on paying but was so touched) and secondly when our little cat was run over someone took him into the vets so they could identify him and call us. Both sad situations but a reminder of where people sometimes just look out for others.
In this world of a lot of bad news what are your examples ?

I am so very very sorry for your loss .

This has actually made me really emotional. So glad someone kind was there for your son when he needed help.

Our daughter was born at the start of the first heatwave this summer. I'm not a first time mum so wasn't really expecting anything to stress me out this time but working out how to keep a baby cool in over 35 degrees was really upsetting and stressful freshly post partum.

A man from a couple of doors down in his 60s came over to say he and his wife had read that keeping a baby cool is hard and that they have air con in their garden room if we would like to cool off for a few hours.

Such a thoughtful and kind gesture. It was such a relief to be able to relax and rest and in that hormonal state I was just so grateful!

I’ve got a new friend from helping a stranger out - boy in his 20s who forgot his card when buying his mum a Mothers Day present. I leaned over and tapped mine.

Couple of months later, he bought something for me when we bumped into each other in same shop. The third time we met I
paid for his charity shop trousers 😊

Love this!! I hope you bump into him again soon.

When I was stranded outside Bedgebury Pinetum when a Highways van blocked the road by parking diagonally and waved me around the edge of him and I ended up stuck in a ditch (he of course laughed, took pictures and refused to tow or help me) about half an hour later a lovely man with a pick up truck and a dog towed me out. Tore off the back wheel-arch on a dwarf wall that was hiding where the car had slid which was a small brook, but at least I could get out! Will forever be thankful to that nice man, showing up the fat nasty one in particularly stark contrast.

Dh does long bike rides on his own. Numerous times he’s got into difficulty and kind strangers have put him and his bike into their vans and driven him to the nearest bike shop. Angels.

We had a diy wedding hired caterers for a hall. The next morning dh and I off on honeymoon my poor dad was faced with moving all the chairs and tables in the hall on his own. My friends dh turned up out of the blue unasked and helped him. Dad said he nearly cried with relief. Lovely guy.

I had a bad lime bike crash in East London and the most lovely woman, stayed with me until the ambulance came, gave me a wad of baby wipes for the blood and was so patient and kind. A young guy stayed too. I was so touched.

My car was hit by a lorry on the motorway, after bouncing off the central reservation and being hit again I ended up facing the wrong way on the hard shoulder but incredibly (and fortunately) uninjured.
A guy who’d been just behind stopped, helped me out of the car and let me sit in his van till the Highways Agency arrived. He was ex police and he also explained exactly what would happen - I was so shocked at the time that I couldn’t focus. It made all the difference to a fairly horrible situation. He didn’t have to stop, he could have driven on home like everyone else - the fact that he gave up an hour of his time meant so much to me.

I slipped over on some cobbles, running for an early train that I really needed to catch. An older lady appeared at my elbow, helped me up and steadied me as I caught my breath, and just murmured such reassuring things. I said something like ‘I’m running late but it’s ok’ and she said ‘It’s ok. It will be ok’. She was just so warm and kind, she waited to make sure I was ok before moving on. I’ll never forget her.

I had some fairly traumatic surgery - I had a melanoma removed from my back. Five members of my extended family had died from melanoma within the past 18 months, so I was quite worried. I told the surgeon that I would need a lot of anaesthetic, as I have red hair. He said “that’s a myth.” He stuck the scalpel in me and I screamed. He said “You can’t possibly feel that,” and carried on. I continued to scream. The nurse told him to stop and put in more anaesthetic, and at this point another doctor came in, asked what was going on, told the original doctor to leave and took over. He gave me more anaesthetic, made very sure I couldn’t feel anything and finished the surgery. I was feeling shaky, but told him I was fine as I just wanted to leave. I got downstairs and started crying, and shaking uncontrollably. A nurse came up to me and asked me what had happened. She took me for a cup of tea and sat with me until I felt better, and was so kind to me. Such a contrast to the original horrible doctor. Interestingly, and I don’t know if this is coincidence, but the doctor who took over has done every one of my mole removals since then, and I haven’t seen the original doctor again.

My boyfriend got travel sick on anything that wasn't a car he was driving. On a ferry back from Orkney to the Scottish mainland, it was a hellishly rough sea. He started throwing up and didn't stop.

When we docked, he was exhausted but the Captain started announcing that drivers should take their cars off. There was no chance of boyfriend getting down to our hire car. The Captain over the tannoy got increasingly irritated. A woman watching us from another table came up and asked if that was our car he was getting cross about. (It was.) She offered to take the keys, drive the car off, and leave it on the quay.

I looked at her and thought 'are you trying to steal our hire car?' and decided I didn't care, and gave her the keys. The car was there when I got the boyfriend off. Lovely kind stranger who saw what needed to be done.

Our car had broken down and we were waiting for the RAC to recover us. It was on a country lane. Numerous cars passed us. We had to wait for hours. A car stopped behind us and a man got out and came to our car. He knock on the window, we opened the window slightly and he said, he had passed hours ago and couldn’t believe we were still there. He then gave us some bottles of water and some sweets and apologised saying he didn’t have anything better.

I’ve had one or two

one was about fifteen years ago and I ran out of petrol in the middle of town, had 4 kids in the car as well as me (older teen in the front before anyone starts) and I just cried as I’d just lost my dad and I didn’t know what to do.

this lovely lady stopped her car, (she had loads of kids as well, they were all loud and music blaring) she said oy love give us that petrol can and a fiver and I’ll go and get you some petrol, so I did, thinking knowing my luck I’ll never see her again but 10 minutes later she’s back with petrol, fills the car up for me, gets me started and on my way. I was so grateful for her and I’ve never forgot it.

the second that sticks was a bit more recent, earlier on this year.

i live in North Wales but I have to attend Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital from
time to time due to an unusual heart problem that I’ve had since birth but only got diagnosed in 2022. I hate driving there in particular and they should have arranged for me to have a heart monitor through the post but they didn’t so they wanted me to go back next day to return it which was impossible

so I had a breakdown on this nurse who gave me tissues and a hug and said don’t you worry I’ll sort this, it’s actually on your notes about you having a heart monitor by post because of where you live and I don’t why they’ve ignored it, she came back in, said all sorted, I’ve had a moan at them and the doctor is very apologetic, gave me another hug and said I feel for you lovely, I hope your day gets better 😭
I hadn’t had a hug of another adult for a year before this and I’ve never forgotten it.

These are so wonderful.
A few years ago, DS wet himself in his sleep on a flight home. He had been reliably dry in the night for ages so we hadn't put him in a pull up for the plane nap and his trousers were soaked. We had to take them off and put him just in a spare pair of pants in my bag. When we landed, the lady opposite gave us her beautiful travel blanket to wrap around his cold bare legs. I tried to find her at the luggage carousel to give it back but she has gone. I was so so grateful and would love to thank her in person. We take that blanket on all journeys now.

And another: earlier this year, had to take my bearded dragon to the emergency vet. By the time I got her out of the car in her box, she had died and I had a breakdown in the vet waiting room. Full on wailing. This wonderful lady who was there with her dog held me steady and stroked my hair while I waited for the vet. I really needed her.

Was very proud as dd (17) told me casually that a middle aged lady had come into her coffee shop to thank her On her shift the week before an old man had fallen over and she had taken charge along with another passer by and called an ambulance and sat with him until it came.

I am loving this thread. Quiet a few have moved me to tears. Despite all the horrible things going on I firmly believe that there are more good people than bad.

Sooo many people helped me with my pushchair when I travelled on the tube in London, which I did fairly regularly. I would say to my eldest ‘when you are grown up I want you to be as kind as these people and help someone with a pushchair too’.

And when he was 17 and out for the day I got a text saying ‘remember when a man helped you with the pram and you said you hope I grow up to be like that? I did it. I helped someone down the stairs.’

He has done it many times since :)

I was so proud! And it is lovely to ‘pass it on’.

Bigging up my own teenage son here. He's 18 and has just left school. Yesterday he was out in my car dropping a friend off when they drove up a street and saw an old lady misbalancing and falling off the pavement. He stopped the car, got out, and he and his friend helped her up. Offered to call an ambulance. Lady said no, she was fine, but a bit lost as she had parked her car, was unfamiliar with the area and couldn't find her way back. DS told her to get in the passenger seat, friend (female) got in the back and the three of them drove around for 15 minutes looking for woman's car. When they found it, DS made sure she was really OK, offered her his phone to call someone, gave her clear directions to get back to a location she knew, and gave her his number in case she needed it.

Very proud of him. Especially as he said while they were on the side of the road with the lady sitting on the pavement, several other "grown ups" walked or drove past.