Has a random act of kindness stayed in your memory forever?

[CrushWithEyeliner]

Once when I was 21 I was on the tube going home after work when I suddenly felt really really awful and had to get off the train. I wandered up to the ticket barrier when a guard saw me and asked me if I was OK. I was feeling so faint I couldn't even talk I just said I felt sick. He then took me into the back room where he and his colleagues made me sweet tea, toast and talked to me for ages until I felt better then called me a cab home, they were really concerned.

I know it sounds really silly but I have never forgotten how sweet they were to me and how much better I felt for it and it was so long ago and such a little thing - does anyone have any similar experiences?

Not a random act from a stranger really, but rather consistent kind acts from someone who barely knew me......

When I was in college we spent a year abroad in Austria. The local coordinator's job was to help me find accommodation and that's all. But she did much much more, inviting me and my friends over for dinner at least once a month. 4 of us arrived with a cheapo bottle of wine between us, and proceeded to devour a fabulous meal and as much booze as the house could hold. Then we'd mutter a feeble 'thank you' and leave, not to bother contacting her for the whole month, until the next invite came. I always think I must have seemed so ungrateful, greedy, never giving back in return. I admire her so much I hope to give that sustained kindness back to someone else.

I was in Tenerife in a nature park with dh and dd (12 months) when one of the "tame" limas we were supposed to feed suddenly attacked me and left deep stratches in my calf. There was alot of blood and panic as the other tourists tried to get out of the fenced area as quickly as they could. Dh was trying to hold me up and carry dd at the same time as I couldn't walk. Two men carried me up a slope to an ambulance and drove dh to the hospital. One of the men's wives translated for me and made sure we knew where the local pharmacy was for AB's. They spent about 3 hours with us even though they had their own children to think about. I am immensely grateful to them and wrote to thank them when I got back to England.

NO

ooh - is it because you're forgetful or no-one's ever been kind to you? (I can't believe the latter would be true)

LOl
i juist want to be all mean and menacing
i am goign to THINK hard

Or because you're so mean and menacing that no-one is nice to you?

Back in 1999 I volunteered with a homeless charity in London, giving out bottles of water and sandwiches and medicine etc, well one day I was trying to help up a homeless man as he was quite clearly very ill and needed to go to hospital, now being 5ft4 and at the time weighing less than 7stone I clearly struggled to get him up (he was a big guy, well over 6ft) now about a dozen buisness in suits walked past pretending they hadn't seen us when a chavvy, tracksuited teenage boy swaggered over, I was thinking, oh no I can't cope if he is any trouble, when he said, looks like you need a hand there mate, he then proceeeded to help the bloke up, called us an ambulance on his mobile (I'm ashamed to say I was told by the charity not to take money or phones with me as they'd be nicked and I followed their advice) and bought 3 cups of tea for us all while we waited for the ambulance!

I was just so ashamed by how I had been stereotyping without even realising it

My handbag was robbed in Charles de Gaul last year. I missed my flight and as there were no further flights to Dublin that night, I was panicking to say the least. A complete stranger, a security guard gave me money for a B&B and the cost of the taxi fare back to the airport. He and his wife would have put me up in their home but had relatives visiting and had no room.

The security guy told me that prior to getting married, himself and his wife found themselves in a similar situation in Australia and no one came to their aid.

On return to Dublin, I was all set to post back the money lent to me but then realised I'd lost the piece of papaer with his address. I was devastated because I thought he might think I was just some opportunist chancer.

Last week clearing through a load of papers etc I came across his address. I can't wait to post the money across and will be forever grateful for his act of kindness.

My mother was not very happy at all with the University I wanted to attend (It was the best one in the area but she had some stupid ideas about American universities). It took me ages to convince her to allow me to try for it.

The university had an introductory program for students who were not profficient in English and need it to improve it a bit before going into the average courses. Problem was that I asked for the info in English and that ruled me out of the program and an academic aptitude exam and landed me on the TOEFL list when I could barely order fries in Mc Donalds. I thought I had ruined the chance until I saw a guy carrying some documents that had the University logo, we started talking about it and I mentioned about the problem I was in. HE was great, he lend me the books to study for the test, studied with me, took me to the test and waited for me to finish to return me home. I never came accross him again in all the time in Uni, but I will be forever grateful for that, without his help my life would have been completely different.

Anyways, I passed the test, and the first thing my mother told me when she learnt I had been accepted was that I was not going to get any help from her and that I should prepare my self to do the "work" as she was not going to provide even the means for transport, which was a bad thing because that would mean a 2.5 hours commute each way, which included walking in bad areas and 3 or 4 buses each way. So, after a couple of weeks with me happily going through that (I was determined to attend that university), I met with some friends and a guy who was around told me he had seen me walking on his way to University, asked where I lived and took me to Uni for 6 months despite the fact I was living way out of his way. He said that in his first year he was also faced with the same and that so many people had supported him that once he got a car started to pay the favour forwards. Needless to say that when I finally got a car, it was like a bus!

I'm also indebted to a Swedish woman married to a Belgian man, who decided to spend 6 hours while we were stranded in a Italian airport, talking to me about the problems faced in multicultural marriages. I had just started dating DexH, and where not clear at all of what it was to come. The things she said to me about what was fair and what was not, have stayed with me ever since. She was a very positive influence in my married life despite me not seeing her again after she boarded her flight.

That's it, Marina's son and the allergy table have finally got me in tears. A huge thank you for all people out there who make the life of our little ones easier.

I've got lots and lots but here are two:

Flew up to Benbecula last summer with BA (spit swear) who managed to lose my bag. Stupidly I'd packed all of my gear and ds's gear including his teddy (who he can't get to sleep without) in it (needless to say all dh's gear including fishing gear arrived no problem).

there is only one shop on south uist that sells clothes afaik and it wasn't fantastic, but i did manage to get some knickers for me and ds and socks but that was it, we had the clothes we stood in and nothing else.

I phoned benbecula airport on the hour for the next 3 days, could not get a number for lost luggage glasgow from anyone, given short shrift by BA customer services, apparently no one knew where my bag was, except that I knew fine well it was at glasgow and hadn't made the connection to Benbecula.

Posted a huge rant on MN. Next day midnightexpress went to the airport, found my bag and got it on the next flight (I'm in tears remembering this). She said something like 'oh, i've got not much on this morning and don't live far from the airport'. But she went massively out of her way for me and I'll never forget it, Thank you so much you lovely lovely woman!

Second one, was interrailling aged 17 with then boyfriend. We missed a connection and realised we had 15 hours to wait in Milan (i think it was), were short of money, hadn't budgeted for the hotel there. The people we were on the train with said get off with us in Bologna and spend the time with us instead of walking the streets of Milan. They took us to their mum's apartment, an amazing one in the centre of Bologna with frescoes on the wall, fed us an amazing lunch. put us in a huge double bedroom with a beautiful white crisp sheeted bed in it (best bed we'd seen for about 3 weeks). we slept for hours and then they took us to an incredible restaurant for some of the best food we'd ever had or that i've had since. Then they drove us to the train station and saw us onto our connecting train. Can't remember their names but they were lovely people.

I've just remembered one about my DH - He was then my boyfriend.

He was staying over at our house (on the sofa in the living room) and my Gran was also staying with us and was sleeping in the next room on the sofabed.

She got up during the night and called upstairs for my dad but she had such a soft voice, she didn't wake anyone upstairs. DH got up and went in to her. She needed help to go to the toilet and he helped her there and back. But she went into the living room and sat on his bed and carried on chatting away to my DH until morning.

She died a few weeks after that.

We all appreciated how kind he was to my Gran - he said he was too scared to go upstairs and wake my parents!

I take my DH for granted too often and I should remind myself of his RAOK from time to time.

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Some of these stories make you feel SO warm inside...
My Robin Reliant broke down in the middle of nowhere in very heavy rain. I was prepared just to sit and have a minor panic when what seemed like hundreds of soldiers appeared out of nowhere - all with bushes on their heads and painted faces.
They were on an excercise but they produced a cup of tea, mended my car then waved and blew kisses as I drove away.

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GentleOtter, that's really made me laugh! The image of loads of camoflaged bad boys melting out of the undergrowth and sorting you out - brilliant!

Slightly similar (but much less impressive): my best friend was cycling home a bit worse for wear, crashed her bike and did something to it that meant it wouldn't run properly. She also hurt her leg. So she was limping home at about 2am through New Cross, feeling very sorry for herself and pushing her knackered bike along, when this guy dressed in a huge white coat just appeared on the path before her - she must have looked a bit needy because he knelt down and had fixed her bike within minutes. Then he waved her on while she blustered out some thank-yous Bicycle Repair Man lives!

My son broke his arm really badly in a playground jumping off a swing, but at the time i was also looking after my friend's two children (plus my daughter). A v kind elderly gentleman who was in the park with his grandson went to the phone box to call an ambulance, and because when it arrived all five of us had to get in and I had no way of telling their mother what had happened (children were too young to know their telephone number and I was too distraught to remember it off the top of my extremely muddled head) he was even more generous and went to my friend's house to let her know what had happened and what hospital we'd been taken to. I would give anything to know his name and thank him.

I like to give ROAK's to anyone (although I've not yet had the pleasure of receiving one, but I can say that I'm honestly not bothered, I much prefer the warm gooey feeling of giving! )
One of my favourites that I'll remember forever entered my head whilst walking home from my mum's house.
I had been living in a shared house for nearly a year when my great grand father died, he was cremated on St Patrick's day (I'll never forget that either as he was Irish, born and bred!) and my mum had kindly brought me back to her's for dinner but I had to get home to make sure I was ready for work the next day etc.
So, dropped by an off-liscence for some drinky-poos (I'm telling you I needed it!), walking through town with my bag of booze I saw a young homeless woman playing one of those irish pipe thingies (Piccolo? ), sat down with her, shared a bevvie, gave her my jacket and wandered off home. . . I did offer for her to come back and sleep in a warm room but she declined (I must've seemed like a complete nutter!).
I always smile when I think of her and it makes me feel so happy to know that she knows of the kindness of strangers.

I truly believe that it is possible for us all to live like this, giving and receiving, but our governments would not survive if we did!

Back in 1972 I was just 18, hitching in France with a male friend and almost no money at all; we experienced several RDOK. One was a lift all the way from the Alsace region to Paris, from a young woman who, realising we had nowhere to sleep in the city, gave us floor space in her bedsit - and when we woke in the morning she had already gone to work!
Then just a few months ago, cold dark night, dp and I getting ready to change a wheel outside our house in insalubrious area of London, young man passing by on his way home takes pity on 2 middle-aged women, stops and does it for us v competently in about 10 minutes.
This thread is so lovely!

This is one thing I'll always remember.

My mum died when I was 4, my dad ran a pub and very often there would be a lock in. One night I remember sitting in the bar with very drunk people in my nightie, there was some kind of fracas, shouting and fighting and such.

Two young women took me upstairs and tucked me into bed, one of the women kept saying that they should go but the other one was worried about me and didn't want to leave.

That was 36 years ago and I'll never forget that act of kindness.

i love this thread.

have just remembered a recent thing that happened - we had just arrived in America, and still had a hire car. I was driving around, constantly lost (I don't mind that, I was just finding my bearings), when my tire literally blew and the car swerved, I had to steer it to the side of the road.

I had my dc's in the back, it was ROASTING hot, there was a week's worth of shopping in the boot, it was about 5pm and I needed to get home. Needless to say I didn't have my mobile charged up. I was about to go and knock on the door of a nearby house for help, but I didn't even know who I'd call! Anyway, I was getting a wee bit panicky, that kind of frustrated teary way, and the dc's were getting upset, when two lovely hispanic gentlemen approached me, and hardly saying anything they just went about the business of changing my tyre. They barely spoke any English, and when they were done I was thanking them profusely, and trying to offer them money, or the case of beer I had just bought! They refused everything.

If it hadn't been for them I would really have been in bother. Lovele, lovely, kind men. My dh was so impressed he wrote a letter about the whole incident to the Washington Post praising their generosity of spirit, which was published.

My Mum taking me and my sister through London with three massively heavy suitcases when we were little. First time in the city and we were all scared and she had to leave us at the bottom of a very tall flight of stairs while she carried each of these suitcases up to the top. Young man in a suit came along and ran up the stairs with all our luggage (he had to make three trips) and pointed us in the right direction. Such a small thing but I have always remembered it.

Any one who stops and helps me get my buggy and children up the stairs when I am travelling.

Only just seen this lovely thread! When I was 19 I was travelling around SE Asia with my then boyfriend. Must have been slightly nuts, as we'd decided to hitch hike from northern Malaysia to Singapore. It was pretty slow going, till a really nice car pulled up and asked where we were going. I said that we wanted to get to the main road a couple of miles away so that we could then hitch straight down to the next town and from there, on to Singapore.

When the driver got to the town, he said that it was such a pity that we were missing some of the best bits of his country, so could he give us a tour?! From about midnight to 2am the three of us had a fantastic time exploring the city of Melaka while the rest of the city slept. Finally, he said that we must not carry on that night, as it was now too late, but dropped us at a hotel and said that we should carry on in the morning. We were knackered, so we thanked him, said goodbye and went inside to get a room.

We had our best nights sleep in weeks and, in the morning, headed downstairs to pay. The receptionist looked confused and said "But you've already paid it!" Our friend was waiting in reception, and having already settled our bill, asked if he could treat us to breakfast at a nearby restaurant before we carried on hitching. We were glad to see him again, and insisted on treating him. As we ate he gave us an envelope: inside were two luxury coach tickets to Singapore, leaving that evening, a short list of things to do in Melaka, and spending money to pay for the rest of our time there!!! He said that his daughter was about my age, and he hoped that if she ever went travelling she'd also be treated with kindness by strangers.

I'm still amazed at how breathtakingly lovely and unbelievably kind that gentleman was, and wish I could let him know that every time I think about acts of kindness, I always picture him - the ultimate example.

When I was 8 my brother and me were cycling down a big hill and I fell off. (We were racing a tractor - kids) The tractor driver stopped and sent my brother home while he stayed with me til my stepdad came to get me. Stepdad was out for the day so he went to get his car and took me to the hospital and waited til my mum came. Bless.

I have also done some good deeds, though perhaps stupid. Was au pairing in the US and driving to get the children on a school run - now remember mums I was 19 and a bit naieve(sp?) A big fat African American Man had broken down in front of me at the lights and he was a builder doing work at the school I was going to which was up a truly mountainous hill which he would have had to walk up. So I took him >with one of the children in the car
I had no idea picking up hitchhikers was illegal, and in my defence he wasn't really a hitchhiker and was lovely, and SOOOOO grateful to me. I got fired though as the mum found out and went ballistic.

I don't regret it though.