Unexpected acts of kindness

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Earlier today I was out for lunch with my dd age 8. As we were walking back to the car she began to feel sick and then felt very faint so I had to sit her down on the pavement. Almost immediately a couple came to ask if they could help by getting some water and then a few seconds later the owner of the restaurant we were beside told us to come inside as there was aircon, sat her down, gave her bottled water which he wouldn’t let me pay for and then encouraged us to stay until she felt better.

No real purpose to this post, I’m just reflecting on how kind many (most?) strangers are. Lots of horrible things in the news but there are countless small but significant acts of kindness every day ❤️

Lovely .....

Yes I think most people are kind and lovely it’s just the negatives stay with you more

That’s very nice and I’m glad that happened and hope she feels much better. I think there’s more kindness than not tbh.

That's lovely. I honestly think that the good in life mostly outweighs the bad. It's just that bad news is more newsworthy, so we hear about it all the time. It's easy for our perspective to be skewed by all the doom and gloom.

Had my bag stolen from my shoulder by a thief on a moped in Spain. It had my son's medical kit in. Got back to our hotel and the medical kit was at reception. They nicked everything else but they chucked the medical kit over the hotel wall. Honour among thieves!

OMG that's amazing! 😂

You win 🥇 😂

There has been a lot of litter left in our local park at weekends during the recent hot weather. The cafe van in the park has just announced that on Monday mornings they will give free coffee and cake to anyone who fills a carrier bag with litter and comes and puts it in their bin.

So kind of them especially when times are hard for small businesses here.

I found a tenner the other day on the floor whilst stood at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the lights to change. The woman stood next to me told me how lucky I was and then I gave it to her and told her it was her lucky day instead!

I don’t care if it’s a selfish act, I love doing random acts of kindness in the hope it makes their day and they too pass along the love.

Every so often when I’m feeling extra generous I’ll pay for the order for the car behind me at Costa so that when they get to the window they get a surprise!

We could all be a little more kinder to each other, it works wonders.

Good for them. Excellent idea.

I'm a firm believer in the power of pay of forward. Giving with no expectation of anything in return, in a world where most things are monetised. It has an amplifying effect like planting a tree.

How do you pay for someone's order when you don't know how much it will be?!

At a busy supermarket checkout with a load of shopping, the thingy refused to read my card, so I had to leave it all there and go looking for a cash machine.

When I got back, I found my shopping waiting for me to take away - the lady behind me had paid for it all.

I’ll only do it if there’s one person in the car 🤣 by the time you’ve got round to the window the other person has put their order through and you can say you’d like to pay for it!

Still some goodness in this world 🌎 hope your daughter feels better soon x

How do people pay for someone behind them if you don;t know what they are having? If that person orders eight coffees and muffins, is it all on you, or do you just say - here's £5 towards the person behind me's bill? I've never understood how this works.

By the time you get to the pay window usually the car behind you has already ordered at the speaker, so you just pay for their order at the same time you pay for your own.

The person behind has already given their order and is waiting behind waiting for the pay window to become free.

I think this sort of behaviour is actually far more prevalent than people like to believe. I may be outrageously lucky but I see small RAOK all the time around me, and just general consideration and politeness as a normal way of life way more than I see deliberate rudeness, aggression or malicious behaviour.

Most people are inherently good and will help if they can - do unto others etc. The ones that step over you lying in the gutter are the exceptions that stand out.

That’s why I only do it when there’s one person in the car behind me. I make a point of saying “can I pay for the drink of the person who is behind me.” So maybe if they’ve ordered food etc the cashier just makes them pay for that.

I do agree. I lead my life in a compassionate manner, and teach my children kindness. I was just struck in a moment where I felt very vulnerable and anxious (we nearly lost her as a baby so when she is ill I am a bit of a mess at the best of times), of the easy selflessness of others and actually how observant they were. We were slightly set back but I guess it was an odd sight (if it had been an adult and not an 8 year old it would have looked like a slumped drunk person!)

it’s been really heartwarming hearing about others’ experiences of compassion in action. Glad I posted now!

Really nice to hear these stories. I do agree, I think that good people outnumber bad, and we will meet both types of people during our lives, but I think most people are good. Even just little things make a difference and tip the balance - stopping your car to let someone cross the road, or smiling at someone as you pass them on the street, holding open a door for someone, bringing your neighbours bin in - it all adds up. It might be small but it's important.

A lovely couple came over to our table at the buffet on holiday to give DS a fiver because he had lovely manners when ordering his ice-cream.