30 Fantastic Real-Life Random Acts of Kindness

When was the last time you did a random act of kindness? A totally selfless act that brought you no benefit, other than, maybe, a really good sense of wellbeing. Or maybe you have been on the receiving end of another person’s unexpected but very welcome gesture of kindness - no matter how small. 

30 Fantastic Random Acts of Kindness  

My eldest son, now 10, takes a lot of notice of the news and current affairs. He is a lot like me when I was little. And it can sometimes seem to him and me that there is only badness and negativity in the world. It does make me worry sometimes about the world he and his brother are growing up in. But you know there is also so much good stuff in the world too. Just sometimes it’s too easy to forget.

Earlier this week I gave a stranger some money. It wasn’t a homeless person; they weren’t sleeping rough or begging on the street. But they were in need at that moment in time. They were trying to board a bus but the driver couldn’t change the note which was the only money that had on them. Unfortunately for him, nobody on the bus could change it. I couldn’t change it either but I did have a couple of pounds which I gave him so he could travel on the bus. He didn’t ask for money and was very thankful and appreciative of my gesture - I told him to put the money in a charity box rather than try and find me again to pay me back, but other passengers seemed and looked really shocked that I’d just help someone like that.

I appreciate that not everyone can afford to, but it was less than a bar of chocolate or cup of coffee. And it did make me think that as a nation when did we stop helping people? 

Do we care more about money, power, fame and celebrity than caring, compassion, integrity, respect, fairness, gratitude, helpfulness, and responsibility?

Karma

I really like the Buddhist idea of karma – a term about the cycle of cause and effect. Or at least the Western interpretation of it that good thing comes to a good person and bad things come to those who are bad. According to the theory of Karma, what happens to a person, happens because they caused it with their actions. I don’t know whether it exists but I’d like to think it does.

Random Acts of Kindness

Random Acts of Kindness is also a movement with a World Kindness Day – this year on November 13, and the Random Acts of Kindness Week is held annually, in the second week of February.

Surfing the web about this topic I came across the Random Acts of Kindness Organisation who believes that kindness is teachable & contagious – let’s hope it is. I also love the idea of paying it forward! But also increases our energy, happiness, lifespan, serotonin and pleasure; at the same time as decreasing pain, stress and anxiety.

Unexpected Gestures

Kindness doesn’t have to cost a thing. Often, it’s the smallest and most unexpected gestures that can have the biggest impact and leave a lasting impression. I spoke to some parents about their experiences with kindness to and from strangers. To my delight, it appears that random acts of kindness are still prevalent in our society. 

Here are some are their stories. Have a read and I hope it gives as much of a warm fuzzy feeling inside as it did me.

Joanne saw a woman fall off the bus with her pushchair, the baby was unharmed but she has dropped all of her shopping bags and the pram had snapped in half! “I carried all of her shopping and part of the pushchair all the way to her house whilst she comforted her little boy. She’d have felt embarrassed, panicked and shook up. I needed to help in some way!” 

Carly saw a lady getting out of a car with a car seat and struggling to get the car seat on the pushchair. “I grabbed the car seat off her and placed it on for her. She was so grateful it was her new grandchild and she hadn’t expected it to be so difficult bless her. To be honest it made me feel really good knowing I had made her day a little easier .” 

Terri was at the zoo last year and saw a Grandma getting in a right tiz because she couldn't set the pram up and had promised her grandchildren a trip to the zoo. “5 minutes later it was all sorted and she was so grateful.” 

This week Carla-Marie gave an old man she didn't know a lift. “He was really struggling with his walker in the rain. He was so thankful - I couldn't actually believe how many miles he had to walk before getting home.” 

Debbie’s kids at school were dressing up as superheroes one Friday for charity. “One little girl was heartbroken as her mum had forgotten her 50p and she thought she would have to get changed into her uniform so my little boy asked if he could pay for her instead of getting his change. I also put an extra 50p in the jar for my youngest class too.” www.mychaoticallyeclecticlife.com

Emma once paid for a lunch for a lady and her child in McDonald’s. “Her card didn’t work and she had no cash - she was close to tears. I’m a firm believer in karma.” 

Katy says she is always looking for an opportunity to help someone, in shops, out in the street, just about anywhere she goes. “In the past week, I have bought someone a drink in a shop when their card was declined, donated to 2 charity campaigns of strangers (#CharityNinja) and sent goodies to a lovely person I know having a hard time.” 

Nicola told me about something she did that was similar to me. “To pay half fare on the local bus, you need a saver card. If you don't have one, you're automatically charged full fare even if you're in full school uniform. (As if someone's going to try that one to save a few pennies!) The young lad in front of me in the queue didn't have his card or the money to pay the adult fare so I paid the difference so he didn't get thrown off the bus. (ETA: Hopefully if she ever needs it, someone will do the same for the Tubblet as she travels by bus. I also figure that as I've been given, it's right to pay it forward).” 

Emma says “The woman in front of me at Sainsbury’s recently had to put some bits back as she didn’t have enough to pay for them. I just said to the cashier to put them through on my shopping. The lady was so thankful – then she told me she was starting up a new cafe and asked me and my daughter to come along for a free meal. Which reminds me now that I must go and visit the cafe and see how it is doing! Kindness costs nothing and karma always comes around...” 

Claire was at a hospital appointment and about to leave the hospital when an old man approached her and asked for directions to the eye clinic. “I could see his sight wasn’t the best so I offered to walk him to the eye clinic. I guided him to the lift and to the relevant ward and stood with him so he wasn’t alone. It was only 10 minutes of my day.” 

Rebecca went back to Aldi and bought the checkout lady a bouquet of flowers. “She deserved it as she let me take my time packing my bags rather than throwing it all at me and trying to make her stats look good. I was 13 weeks pregnant but she didn’t know, it made the entire experience so much less stressful for me”. 

Eliza bought two sandwiches from Subway the other day and was planning to give the other one to her sister when she got home. “On my way back to the car park, I saw a lady on the street begging for money and I didn't have any money to give her, but she was more than happy with my sandwich.” 

Shel was shopping in Morrison’s (with only 1 of her children) “I passed another Mum who had a screaming toddler on the floor. I stopped and asked her if everything was ok and if she needed help. Everyone else in the aisle did nothing. This other mum broke down in tears and explained she couldn’t pick up her toddler as she was pregnant. So whilst she watched my little one, I picked up her daughter, talked to her and calmed her down whilst placing her back in her buggy. She was so grateful and it felt so refreshing to help someone as I had been in similar positions over the years!”

Natalie stopped her van to help someone who had fallen over and dropped quite a lot of stuff the other day. “ just checked he was ok and helped him pick his things up. I wasn't sure whether I should have stopped because he was embarrassed but I was worried that he might have really hurt himself. I'm glad I stopped, I'd have felt terrible if I hadn't.” 

And when you are on the receiving end …

Janet got out of the car at the supermarket and paid and displayed for parking. By the time she got to the shop door, she realised my phone was missing. “My phone connects to my car by Bluetooth so I switched my car on and the car couldn't locate my phone. I was sure I'd been pickpocketed when I bought my parking ticket! While waiting at the customer service desk I asked the parking attendant in the queue behind me if pickpockets were a common problem and she immediately leapt into action. She gave me her own phone and sent me off to the carpark to try calling mine. She was waiting to pay for a snack so she didn't come with me. She had no idea who I was and she let me walk off out of the shop with her phone! 5 mins later she caught up with me and we finally located my dropped phone, by ringing it from hers. She did not hesitate to help me, I was amazed. She saved me from a really bad day.”  

Alex has paid for nappies, wipes, a sandwich and formula for a woman in front of her in Asda. “She had a screaming newborn in the pram and as she went to get her purse out to pay she was mortified to realise that she had left it at home. I could see how devastated she was, not to mention embarrassed and she clearly had rushed out of the house to get essentials her baby needed there and then. It came to less than £12 and she was so grateful and relieved. I just could imagine myself in that situation. 

And again Alex has been on the receiving end. “When I had a fall earlier on in my pregnancy a gentleman was absolutely amazing, helped me up, took me into costa and sat me down with a hot chocolate and a croissant. I couldn't stop crying enough to take his details but the sugar and comfort were exactly what I needed!" 

Laura will always try and help others, but one of her favourite times that she has been helped was when Alfie was a toddler. “We were in the charity shop and they had some books for about 15p each, so we chose ten that we wanted and took them to the till. An old man jumped in and paid because he said it was so lovely hearing a little boy so excited about books these days and didn't have any grandchildren of his own to spoil. 

"Also one really low, low day Alf really wanted an ice cream and we were so broke at that point as I'd left work and my husband had just lost his job. A guy overheard me saying we didn't have the money and insisted I take £5 to go to the shop and buy us all an ice cream. I reluctantly accepted and went in and just got Alf an ice pop and gave the man £4.80 change. He made me go back in and buy 'proper' ice creams making sure I got myself one too. We've actually had this kind of thing a lot! There are some good eggs :)" 

Lucy will often pay for something for a stranger if they are in front of her in a queue and don't have enough money. It is often not that much money and normally makes their day. However, she has also been on the receiving end. The greatest act of kindness that I've known was back when I was at university. I was out for the night and had just broken up with my boyfriend. I was very upset and crying in a corner of the Student Union. And this girl I had never met came up to me and gave me a Mars Bar she'd bought for me. She gave me a hug and told me that "Men always let you down But chocolate never lets you down". I've never forgotten it almost 20 years later. 

Louise says over the last few weeks, we've been on the receiving end of many acts of kindness but one that does stand out is the first one - having a full week's worth of shopping delivered out of the blue the morning after our daughter died. Having been in the hospital the week before meant that I hadn't got around to doing any shopping and it was the last thing on my mind after she passed away. What was even better was that it was almost as if it had been meal planned too - everything that was there was something I could put together easily to make a meal, often without too much effort and it made that first awful week just that little bit easier. So grateful to all the lovely bloggers who sent it.”

Emma always tries to help, such as paying for something for a stranger if they haven't got the right amount. “As a student, I used to give my free pizza I got after my shift to a homeless man who I'd see while leafleting." 

And again the kindness is repaid. “Once someone really helped me out when my eldest wasn't behaving. We were out for coffee with a friend and we went to leave and my son decided to throw a massive tantrum because he didn't want to go. I had a newborn with me in the buggy, and my friend had her baby with her so we struggled to get him to his feet or carry him. A man then came over and asked if we needed help, and offered to push the buggy while I picked up my son and carried him out. Later that day my friend popped around with chocolate and a bottle of prosecco to cheer me up! There are some really good people out there!!"

Jade says "I try to give money to every person I see playing music in the street, buy the big issue every now and again and help people out when they truly need it. People always seem shocked that even when I’m struggling for money I’d give my last £1 away but there are always people worse off than yourself and the world would be a much nicer place if we all helped out."

The place where Jade lives, Ely, also sounds so lovely. She says “I fell in town the other week, tripped over a cable and dislocated my knee, everyone rushed to help to get me a seat, water, comforting my daughter etc..”

Then “The day we moved here, it was raining and I had 2 under 3, a buggy, luggage and a dog, I was getting soaked. A car pulled alongside me and gave me the umbrella they had. I later found them through our local ‘spotted in’ page and rather than wanting it back, they told me to keep it and pass it on when someone else needed it. That same week, I saw 3 others offer their umbrellas away too.”

Plus “My hubby had a seizure the day before my daughters birthday last year, he couldn’t walk or talk very much. We had planned to visit family in our hometown and she was so disappointed we either couldn’t go or her dad couldn’t. I was amazed that a random stranger drove to our house and dropped off a wheelchair for us to borrow for as long as we needed! I’ll never be able to thank that guy enough.”

And finally says “Plus you’d be surprised how often our local spotted in page has found a phone, purse, debit card etc, people always make sure they get back to the owner rather than just the police station so they don’t have to go through the stress of cancelling them.”

I feel so good now. This was just a quick few chats with other parents but thankfully its enough to show me that the world is still full of kindness. I’m going to bookmark it for times when I need cheering up and will also read it with my boys. Chatting with parents about this and writing this post has really given me a feel-good factor. Now if we could just spread this kindness, compassion and generosity throughout the next generation then I think we’ll be OK.

What random acts of kindness have you experienced?

Deb x

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