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Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 5:08:52 PM   
CalliopePurple


Posts: 2539
Joined: 11/29/2004
From: SeaTac area
Status: offline 		When I get to thinking that the world is a pain in the ass and people don't care enough about each other, things like this morning happen. Woke up, expecting not to hear anything from the people I was asking money from in my need to move away from a place emotionally unhealty.

Well, I got an email from someone I know through LiveJournal, saying that she could send me the money as long as I explained Western Union to her. So, if things go like they should, the money should be with me tomorrow and I can leave early Wednesday morning.

This is not one of my closest friends, this is a person I only know through journal entries and comments we make about each other's lives. The fact that she is kind enough to help me out when I need it helps reaffirm my faith in people and gives me a much needed attitude boost.

Similar things have a pattern of happening to me when I need them most. I like to think it's because I'm nice when I have things to spare and it's karma coming back at me, but who really knows? I give spare gloves to homeless people, help people move their bags whenever I use Greyhound even though my own arms are usually full, and am always there as a shoulder to lean on.

Anyone else done/been on the receiving end of something that just completely made their/your day or week or whatever when life was being harsh?

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Kimi ni aitakute dare yori mo aitakute
hajimete kimi ni atta hoshizora no shita de.
Kimi ni tsutaetai todokanai omoi demo
boku no kokoro wa mada kimi o sagashiteiru.

Gackt - Kimi ni Aitakute
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 5:24:59 PM   
greenie


Posts: 579
Joined: 7/24/2005
Status: offline 		i was once at a gas station putting in my last $10 in the tank and thinking "this is the last cash i have for 2 days and i still need to feed my 3 responsibilities". As i was figuring out how to steal from peter to pay paul this young guy walks up where i was pumping and just handed me a $20 and said simply "i had this sudden urge to give this to you and i can't explain it. please just take it". i stood there with my mouth hanging open unable to speak and he just walked away. i didn't even get the chance to thank him. 2 days later when i had gotten paid i saw another mom at the same gas station at the counter saying "$1 on pump 7". i quickly reached passed her and told the clerk "make it $11". She didn't have a chance to say thanks either as i quickly walked out but she didn't need to, the look of thanks on her face was enough.

(in reply to CalliopePurple)
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 5:37:30 PM   
pinkpleasures


Posts: 1114
Status: offline
i was fed lunch for my last two years of High School by a very poor family. My girlfriend would carry two bags of food with her every day, and sometimes we had milk money; mostly we did not. This same family did me many kindnesses over the years, including lending me a hat to wear to my daddy's funeral.

i am never gonna forget them, and i can never pass along enough kind acts of my own to repay that debt.

pinkpleasures

< Message edited by pinkpleasures -- 8/27/2005 11:03:00 AM >

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 5:56:37 PM   
RosaB


Posts: 852
Joined: 1/10/2005
Status: offline 		I'll never forget a random act of kindness to my mother and my siblings when we were stranded in NC, I don't know how it all came to be, but I do remember starving and a police officer feeding us. I don't remember him personally it happened more than 30 years ago, but I'll never forget his kindness.



Rosa

< Message edited by RosaB -- 8/30/2005 7:55:16 PM >

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 6:02:18 PM   
perverseangelic


Posts: 2625
Joined: 2/2/2004
From: Davis, Ca
Status: offline 		I like the little things that people do, that make me not hate them

I work at a bookstore. We do buy three get one free sales on CDs. A guy was buying three cd's and couldn't find a fourth one he wanted. The guy behind him was buying 1 cd. So, the first guy just went ahead and bought the other guys cd.

Nothing big, it didn't cost anything, but it made me happy.



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~in the begining it is always dark~

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 7:16:24 PM   
BlkTallFullfig


Posts: 5585
Joined: 6/25/2004
Status: offline 		When I was a kid, we were ever so slightly better off than a lot of our neighbors, so we used to steal food, clothes, condiments and give it to some of our neighbors.
It's the only time my dad didn't discourage a dishonest act; some of the neighbors would bring some of the stuff back (shoes, clothes), so my father knew we were doing it, but it was taking care of the less fortunate.
I try when I can nowadays, but not as frequently in a big city with big problems, less trust, and much more cynicism.
What is strange is that for the first couple of years at my current job I used to be nice, and my coworkers would come back with "I owe you big now" or "why did you do that." I find it so strange and unfortunate that people need a reason to be generous or kind.. M

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a.k.a. SexyBossyBBW
""Touching was, and still is, and will always be, the true revolution" Nikki Giovanni

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 9:19:16 PM   
MsIncognito


Posts: 742
Joined: 5/24/2005
Status: offline 		I've done/had happen to me lots of things like this but to me it seems just....I dunno...wrong...to brag about them. I think doing so devalues them somehow. Weird, eh?

(in reply to CalliopePurple)
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 9:47:45 PM   
RosaB


Posts: 852
Joined: 1/10/2005
Status: offline 		I guess it depends on how your are reading what people are saying. My thoughts on the matter is sharing how one good deed can lead to another, not so much look at how wonderful I can but how sometimes experiences lead to empathy in some instances and can inspire. That's not to say that a person wouldn't want to help others never having been on the receiving line of another's act of kindness.

So many people have given up on kindness, but maybe sharing might give someone else pause to pass the torch or maybe not. With all the negativity in life in general sometimes it's just nice to hear of and share stories that warm the heart. That's just my take on it. but some will always see the glass to fit their mood.

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 10:08:56 PM   
perverseangelic


Posts: 2625
Joined: 2/2/2004
From: Davis, Ca
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: MsIncognito

I've done/had happen to me lots of things like this but to me it seems just....I dunno...wrong...to brag about them. I think doing so devalues them somehow. Weird, eh?



I dunno. It gives me good ideas.

_____________________________

~in the begining it is always dark~

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 10:13:48 PM   
greenie


Posts: 579
Joined: 7/24/2005
Status: offline 		i don't think it's bragging but showing how when the unexpected gift is given it inspires the receiver to show their appreciation by bestowing an unexpected gift to someone else. Often we forget that there are small ways in which we can make someones life so much better and it just feels good to do so...a feeling of euphoria almost. If you found a way to experience euphoria wouldn't you share it with others and tell them that they too could feel this good?

(in reply to perverseangelic)
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/21/2005 11:25:45 PM   
FangsNfeet


Posts: 3758
Joined: 12/3/2004
Status: offline 		Here in Texas it's been one hell of a hot summer as usual. As I was unloading groceriers aroud 430pm, I noticed that two yard workers for our apt complex had ran out of water. They have been cutting and mowing all day and still had atleast another hours worth of work to do. So I went ahead and gave them my 6 bottles of water that I kept in my car for the event of a break down.

I myself always try to have a good deed for the day but in nomally becomes a good deed for the month. I'm kind of picky about the people that I help. For example, there are some kids near by who keep there buckets out to collect money for there Jr High football team. Instead of giving them money I told the kid to stop begging and start washing cars. After all, thats how my youth and church groups earned money for trips, uniforms, and such.

As for the best deed I can think of, it all started out from a BDSM night in Houston at the old House of HaWay. My sis and I where just a few miles away from home at 4am when we noticed a SUV had rolled over in front of our very eyes. So we stoped to help them out. After all was said and done with the police and firemen, this non english speaking espanic family had no way to get back home to houston. A man, his wife, and 3 kids with the eldest being pregnant. They where on there way to Houston and had atleast $300 worth of groceries. They refused hospital treatment and said that there ID's somewheres in the car. Well no one was seriously injured and the State Trooper can't do anything about illegal immigrants. After all it's a federal matter. Any how, there was also a truck driver who was behind them when the accident occured. With his help, my sis and I were able to pile them up in my ford escort, me and one of the teens in the truck, most of there groceries, and drove them all the way back to Houston. The truck driver was going to houston anyways. Then my sis and I finally made it back home and I had a mudy escort to clean. They offered money for our help to clean the car with but my sis has always been to kind to except.

I've done random acts of good here an there. After all, it's the littlest things that make the biggest differences.

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I'm Godzilla and you're Japan

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 12:16:41 AM   
brightspot


Posts: 3052
Status: offline
quote:

Anyone else done/been on the receiving end of something that just completely made their/your day or week or whatever when life was being harsh?


I experience it and witness it all the time. I think if you open your self up to really
paying attention to the interactions between people, you will be very happy to realize the good way, way, way, way, out-does the bad....Hands Down!

*Brightspot

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"Comedy is NOT Pretty!" ~Peter Nelson

But..."May at Least One person have a sense of Humor!" ~KML.

http://360.yahoo.com/my_profile-TD4TwEw8crWS3GHFDcs_DK1rHmW6Dq_E;_ylt=Av2PfG9gH0wkQrMPivuMCivGAOJ3

(in reply to CalliopePurple)
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 12:50:58 AM   
MsPurrmeow


Posts: 261
Joined: 10/30/2004
Status: offline 		I remember the first major encounter I had with "Random Acts of kindness". I grew up in Wyoming, in a place where the winters never got UP to 0` and the wind never stopped blowing. Buying a new coat was out of the question for me on a particularly cold winter, but apparently someone saw that I needed one one year. I went to church one day and a beautiful down parka was on the coat rack with my name on it. I couldn't even touch it that week, or even the next, because I had no inherent knowledge of why a person would do something like that for me, much less in how to receive a gift. It is one of my memories of not only magnificent gratitude, but as an example that sometimes people who cannot accept things gracefully simply have no reference point from which to do so. I had no idea how to say Thank You.

When I finally found someone to talk to about it later, I was told to pass on the gift someday to others in need, and I've never stopped.

I probably did not explain it well because I still get choked up. I remember being so very cold that winter, and just layered old sweaters as much as I could. That coat was an expensive one, and it actually fit right, which was a shocking new thing as well. Someone else saw me and saw a need. I can only hope that I can give show others the same kind of kindness someday. I still don't know who paid for that coat, and I owned it as a sentimental reminder until a few years ago when I gave it away to someone my size who was moving to that area. I cried when I gave it away, but I told the young lady that it was a completely selfish act of me to give it to her. She didn't understand, and I accept that. There was a time when I did not understand Kindness in either giving or receiving. I still learn every day.

Purr



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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 11:56:31 AM   
Isolde


Posts: 213
Joined: 4/18/2005
From: Hamilton, Ontario
Status: offline 		Hopping back and forth across the border here, we've had people pay our toll. They're in the car ahead of us and pay the toll for the car behind. If I have the exact change on hand, I'll do the same as well. I've thought about doing the same thing in the drive-thru of fast food places as well but I haven't been brave enough yet; I'm not sure if the cashier would allow it.

When I was working as an EMT, I'd see lots of little kindnesses. Neighbors who would bring family members without cars to the hospital so they could visit injured loved ones, family members who brought in fresh coffee and donuts to the night staff of the ER, cops who would feed the pets of little old ladies who lived alone and had to stay for more than a day in the hospital, paramedics giving up their lunches to those who were hungry, firefighters who'd let latchkey kids come in and help wash their trucks while they waited for their parents to come home from work.

My mother (also a paramedic) was almost fired for transporting a dog who'd been hit by a car right in front of them, in her ambulance, to an emergency vet clinic. A medic I worked with found a box of kittens on the side of the road and hid them in the bench seat in the back until they could swing by the Human Society and drop them off...best part of that story is that, right after they hid the kittens, they had a call to transport a psych patient. That patient swore up and down that the voices in her head that day sounded just like kittens and it was all the attending medic could do to keep a straight face.

(in reply to CalliopePurple)
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 12:30:46 PM   
RiotGirl


Posts: 3149
Status: offline 		random acts of kindness are awesome. Kindness is awesome. People who care are awesome. Gotta love it!! i know i've done my fair share in my time. i used to think when i was younger "if Jesus was here would do it" "He wouldnt let it go like that" And i tried to walk in his steps when it came to caring. silly, i'm sure. i've found stray animals on the road, bathed, fed and walked whole towns searching for a new home for these animals.

i've walked into homes and started vaccuming, cleaning, doing dishes, laundry. i've put myself on the line and gone to jail. i've taken runaways into my apartments and tracked down their parents. Even agreeing afterwards with the parents to let their kids stay WITH me as maybe i could get some sense into them. i've walked teenagers to SCHOOL over 2 miles because they hadnt been to school in a month or so. Speaking the whole way about how important education was and letting them know where i screwed up.. hoping to give some insight.

i might of ended up in jail a few times, but every situation i put myself in turned out for the best. The crack head mother's 2 boys ended up living some where else. The 16 year old grauduated highschool and was living in a good place.

i've sat down with teenage girls and explained things to them. Getting them off drugs, teaching them that spreading their legs for guys, ISNT going to get them what they want. , getting them healthy again.

And even, even, when i've tried all i can and it doesnt seem to work out it does. Once, with a run away, her parents put her in my care. I couldnt do squat and i knew it. Spoke to her parents. They let her move into a bad place. No matter how much i stressed to the parents, the cops and even the owners of the apartment, no one would do diddly.

Called out some one, as my buddy reaper said "you whupped him with out even touching him" Cos i WASNT standing for it. Then i went to God, as oddly as that sounds. Having police forcefully REMOVE me from the corner of the street by the church, where i was sitting and praying. Found out later (when i got bailed out, LOLOL) that she had been removed that very next day. Hate to say it, but i think God heard me. What did i ask God? "Why are you letting this happen, i've done all i can" Heh, i went to church orginally to find a priest, to ask him "you're closer to God then i am, can you tell me why God is letting this go on?" Aye i was upset, because i saw a 14 year old throwing her life away by two crack heads and porn. i'll take a felony any day over watching some kid who doesnt know better throw their life away.

Tho these days, with a daughter of my own, and 3 felonies. The world will have to suffer and hurt itself with out me interferring. But i try to pitch in for the better of our planet earth when i can.

i mean REALLY folks, for those who believe in Jesus. What would he say if he was here now? Let him walk through a ghetto....

Yeah thats it, why dont a whole bunch of ppl who think the world is a grand place, walk through the ghetto and take a look at the kids. so much for caring about our fellow human beings.

Nice to see some ppl out there still do! Awesome stuff folks

(in reply to Isolde)
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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 3:28:08 PM   
FangsNfeet


Posts: 3758
Joined: 12/3/2004
Status: offline 		I've forgot to mention that I'm also a Turtle Savior. Even when on big intersections such at I-10 , 20, and 45, I've been known to stop to pick up turtles anc drive them to the nearest ponds and rivers to drop them off to. I just thought I should share this hobbie of mine.

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I'm Godzilla and you're Japan

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 3:35:48 PM   
sub4hire


Posts: 6775
Joined: 1/1/2004
Status: offline 		I've always personally felt it was impolite to boast about helping other's in their times of need.

So, no stories for me just a link.

http://www.actsofkindness.org/

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 4:26:52 PM   
CalliopePurple


Posts: 2539
Joined: 11/29/2004
From: SeaTac area
Status: offline 		My parents do the same thing for turtles, Fangs.

And now my good mood is spoiled. I just learned that my stepsisters' mom's longtime girlfriend just died. They had two children via sperm donor, were together about ten years, and she died in her sleep last night for no apparent reason.

I only met her a few times, but she was pretty nice, if a little forceful and she thought I was too quiet, but I wish I was at home at least for a bit to comfort my stepsisters.

_____________________________

Kimi ni aitakute dare yori mo aitakute
hajimete kimi ni atta hoshizora no shita de.
Kimi ni tsutaetai todokanai omoi demo
boku no kokoro wa mada kimi o sagashiteiru.

Gackt - Kimi ni Aitakute

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 4:43:59 PM   
luvdragonx


Posts: 388
Joined: 6/22/2005
Status: offline 		Here's one we'll never forget.

Last holiday we were in a store, getting the last few gifts for our family. My kids were with me and singing the usual Can I Have This? song. There was an older man in front of us in line, who started talking to my son, who was 8 at the time, and told him that he had a grandson about his age. The gentleman and I exchanged small talk while waiting for the line to advance. Then out of nowhere, the man asks my son if he like Yu Gi Oh cards. My son, very excited, says yes. So the guy picks up a pack and puts it with his things. Then he went in search of something for my daughter, not wanting her to be left out. He picked up a Spongebob disposable camera and asked if she would like it. Her face lit up. Just like that, he pays for his items, hands my kids their impromptu Christmas gifts, and thanked ME for letting him do something nice for them. I was speechless, though I managed to mouth a 'Thank you' before he turned away. The icing on the cake? My kids ran after him to personally thank him, without me telling them to. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it now. That random act inspired me from that day on, and I try to make those random acts part of my life.

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Never Without Love

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RE: Random acts of kindness - 8/22/2005 6:51:14 PM   
MsIncognito


Posts: 742
Joined: 5/24/2005
Status: offline 		Great site. Thanks for posting that.

quote:

ORIGINAL: sub4hire

I've always personally felt it was impolite to boast about helping other's in their times of need.

So, no stories for me just a link.

http://www.actsofkindness.org/

(in reply to sub4hire)
Profile   Post #: 20
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