Did a stranger ever do something nice for you....just because?

[WillParkinson]

My aunt and I were about 8 years old. We went to the library and then across the street to the George Webbs for a burger. We only had enough money to get 1 burger and split it. We asked the waitress if we could please have a burger and split it. She came back a bit later with two plates. Each had a burger and french fries on it. We were scared because we didn't have enough money to pay for it. When I mentioned it to her she said that the burgers were on her and that the fries were from the person sitting across from us.

My father has a strange relationship with black people. I view it as racist although he disagrees. It rubbed off on me when I was a kid and it stayed with me until I was a teenager. The one thing that changed my mind was a bus ride through the 'hood' after visiting a friend at a mall. I was prone to nosebleeds and got one while on the way home. I didn't have much to stop it with and tipped my head back to try and stop the blood. An elderly lady moved to the seat behind me and said, "Young man..." I shrugged her off because I did not want to be bothered. She insisted and again said, "Young man!" She then took a small packet of Kleenex and pressed them into my hands. "You need these more than I do," she said. It was then that I realized that everything my father said was so NOT true.

Anyone ever done anything nice for you?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Yes

I was on the way to the cemetary to visit my father's grave when the fuel pump broke on my car and left me stranded on a road without ANYTHING nearby. I didn't have a cell phone at the time.

A woman with her husband and a car full of kids saw me walking and figured I belonged to the stranded car by the roadside.

She drove a couple miles and dropped her husband and kids off at a fast food restaurant, came back, got me..gave me a ride to a phone and returned me to my car to wait for the auto club...just knowing I needed the help. I told her she was my angel..she told me to do it for someone else. It was a very great feeling...and I since have done it for another.

[KCDem]

2. two men gave me a ride from Dulles to downtown DC after midnight

I flew in for an academic conference. Being a poor grad student, I didn't want to have to pay for a taxi. Our flight was late, though, and the metro was already closed. The guy who sat next to me on the flight and his partner gave me a ride, even though it was out of their way. I asked them if I could give them some $. Their answer: "No, just do something nice for somebody else some day."

I liked the way they thought.

[indie]

3. many times..

I am certain that people are basically good.

Years ago on christmas morning my husband had a siezure in the car while i was driving home from my parents house. i pulled over, dragged him out of the car and lay him on the snow. more than a few people stopped to offer assistance, but the one that still makes me cry when i think about this is the woamn who ran back to her car, opened the trunk and pulled out a wrapped gift. as she came running back to where my husband was she was ripping off the paper. inside was a handmande blanket that she covered him with.

[WillParkinson]

5. Alright...

Now THAT is the ultimate in cool. Thank you for sharing that one.

[skypilot]

4. For some reason this always sticks with me.

In the summer of 1975 the movie "Jaws" came out. I was really excited about everything "Jaws" related. I was on a train with my mother heading back to D.C. from Philadelphia and the woman in the seat across from me had a copy of "Jaws" in her lap. I got up the nerve to ask her if I could take a look at her book. I was sort of skimming through it when it came time for her to depart at her stop. She told me that if I promised to finish reading the book that I could have it. For a moment I didn't understand. I was completely taken off guard by the fact that a complete stranger would just give me something that belonged to them. My mother had to tell me to say "Thank you" because I was kind of struck dumb with amazement. Now that I'm grown up I guess it's not really that big a deal to give someone a paperback novel but as a child it really struck me. Naturally, I did finish reading the book. In fact, it was the first "adult" novel I read as a child.

[Fleshdancer]

6. In Japan...

My husband and I moved to Japan for 2 years due to my husband's job. He went before I did while I finished the packing and tying up the loose ends here.

The day I arrived in Tokyo, all I had was an address of where my husband was staying but no phone number. My love was brain dead that week and he got the date of my arrival wrong. (yes, I still give him crap about that) Me, a woman who lived in Austin, TX all her life was now in one of the largest cities in the world, didn't speak the language, and didn't know how to get where I needed to go.

The Japanese woman I sat with on the plane was concerned for me at the airport. Since I didn't speak Japanese, I asked for her help on purchasing the $40 train ticket from the airport to the city. Next thing I know, she gets her husband to purchase my ticket (not expected), he sits next to me on the train, and asks another Japanese man to help me get to where I need to go once I arrive at the Tokyo station.

The second Japanese man proceeds to call information to figure out how to get to the address I had, purchases my train ticket, and walks with me down the streets of Chigasaki at night just to make sure I got to the right place. I kept offering to pay these people back but they wouldn't let me. These people changed their plans that evening just to help out a lost foreigner. We could learn volumes from the Japanese.

[Rainbowreflect]

7. Your second story reminds me of my first day of Junior high school.

My parent were not at all racist, in fact the often spoke with us about the problems racism caused. That being said I don't think I had ever really talked to a black person before my fist day of junior high. I was a very scared 11 year old girl that day with all those older kids, I though some of the guys probably had to shave.
While I was trying to get my locker to open these 2 older boys starting teasing me. When I was sure I was about to start crying I heard this gruff voice telling them they had better leave me alone that I was a friend of his. When a turned around I had to look way up a this huge black kid. Chuck was my hero. He did not have any reason to save this little white girl, but he did. I am so grateful to him to this day. Not just for making my first day of junior high so much better, but for allowing my first contact with a male of a different race to be so positive. Thank you Chuck where ever you are.

[nannygoat]

8. I had a really creepy experience once that turned out ok

because of some people who were looking out for me.

I was a 21 year old woman, who had just arrived in St. Augustine, FL. I was there to stay with and help an elderly RC nun who I had worked with the summer before (we had both worked with farmworkers in NC). I arrived earlier than I had thought I would and so I stopped to check out a park by the waterfront. I got back to my car and noticed one of my tires was flat. Two guys in a truck appeared and offered to change the tire for me. I accepted their offer of assistance (I was planning to pay them) but the driver said he didn't have the tools with him and was very insistent that I get in the truck with them and go get them. That didn't make any sense (I had the necessary tools) so it raised big-time red flags with me and I told them I wasn't going with them and if they couldn't help me that was ok. They took off and I fully expected never to see them again.

Surprisingly, the other guy (passenger) in the truck returned driving a different car and proceeded to change my tire. I thanked him and offered him some money (which he wouldn't accept). He told me it was a good thing that I hadn't gone with them because the driver of the truck was up to no good (didn't say what he had in mind for me). I've always been so thankful that I listened to that inner voice warning me not to go with them. So that was one very nice person.

Then as soon as he left, an elderly couple who had been sitting on a bench in the park called out to me, "Are you ok? We've been watching out for you." The other nice people of the day.

[Mikimouse]

9. In 1993, while I was in the hospital, my apartment

was robbed. The robbers took everything I had, down to the furniture. I found out while I was in the hospital, and was devastated. All of my 'memories' were gone. Some of the other people I had gotten to know in the hospital had already been discharged, and somehow found out what happened. On the day I was to be discharged, about ten of them showed up at the hospital with clothing of all types and an offer of a place to live temporarily. They had even rescued my car from the 'pound'. Without those folks, I would have been forced to move back to my old haunts, and it is a guarantee I would not be here today. Its immpossible to give back enough to ever equal their selflessness.

[DS1]

10. opposite

One time after a root canal operation, the grinding down the tooth part, I was at a Denny's type place, hating life and feeling miserable slurping down an omelet for dinner. A couple tables down is a homeless guy, I think they knew he couldn't pay when the served him but did anyway, and now wanted money. After trying to pressure him to give them the money the manager started to go call the police. I walked over and gave the guy a ten-spot. Never ate there again.

[Mikimouse]

12. There's a special place for those who help others...

too bad there are so few who care enough to help. You rock!:yourock:

[Nikia]

11. Nice looking men always show up

I don't know why that is, but if I ever get physically hurt or seem to be having trouble in public, some nice looking man shows up to help me. I don't know why that is, but I don't know if it is really just because.
I am also helped frequently by old ladies. One let me use her discount card today at the grocery store.
I usually help people too. I see no reason not too.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. My favorite random-act-of-kindess story

I was a VERY poor college student and had just found a job that would allow me to work around my school schedule. I was about a week away from my first paycheck and had managed to pay my rent and my utilities (barely) but had literally run out of food. I mean I had nothing, no Top Ramen, no change to scrounge, nothing! I didn't know what I was going to do. Now, I hadn't mentioned my predicament to ANYone.

My new job was at a sheet music store and this lady, whom I'd never seen before, walks in and asked for some help in chooseing some piano music. Of course I helped her, she paid for the music and that was that . . . so I thought. About a half hour later she comes back into the store, walks directly over to me and hands me a piece of paper saying, "Jesus told me to give this to you" and walked out. I looked at the piece of paper and it was a check for $100.00. I couldn't believe it! I didn't know this woman, she didn't know me and I had told no one about my situation. Needless to say it was more than enough to feed me until payday. Luckily, I've been in a position to "pay it forward" many times and that incident has always served as an inspiration.

Absolute true story. It still give me chills.