People are basically good

Parent Cafe
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I had to stop earlier today and mess with my car’s wiper system. It was a weird spot so I turned on my hazard lights. Just now, a stranger driving by my house saw the lights flashing in the dark. I’d forgotten to switch them off. She could have ignored them, but she came to my door and pointed them out. Without that, my battery might be dead in the morning.

I am so grateful. And so happy that someone took the time to make my life so much easier. It’s easy to get cynical about people. But when we interact personally, maybe we’re still OK. I hope so.

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I have faith in people. I firmly believe that most people will do the right thing most of the time.

Starting off the new year with a good deed is the best way to start. :slight_smile:

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Last night I left my iPhone 6 at the mall. Went back, and couldn’t find it. Nobody had turned it in, and we couldn’t call it any more, it had been turned off–sure sign it was now stolen. But we put a message on it that said it was lost, and offered a $300 reward to anyone who found it. Locked it remotely, went down to the store this morning to replace it, and remote delete all data.

All night I felt sick. Not just because I’d lost a $650 cell phone, but worrying about all the personal info on it. What someone might steal, and all the pictures I’d lose, the hassle. The sense of feeling ripped off, and people are so honest in Seattle, it was upsetting. Our phones and wallets always get turned in, by some anonymous person. I felt so let down.

This morning, while at the store, getting ready to delete my data and buy a new phone, my husband got a call. Someone had turned it in! I went back to the mall, picked it up, and talked to the store owner who had turned it in. A kind Asian lady, speaking broken English. She refused the $300, gave me a hug, and said,“Happy New Year! I know how it feels, I just lost mine a little while ago and someone returned it.” My faith in human nature is restored!!

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This reminds me of times when I’ve had kind people find and return my things, once when we had a toddler and infant in New Orleans and left my waist pack on the St Charles Street car! Didn’t even realize we had left it until the finder called our hotel and left it at the front desk.

Once S found two very valuable toys he had lusted after. He wrestled with his conscience, but turned it in to lost and found at my urging. As he was turning it in, he saw the person who lost it going from despair to elation when she saw him turning them in.

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We need more stories like these!

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Years ago, our family did a month-long home exchange in Ireland, in a town about a 4-hour drive from Dublin. I wore a fanny pack containing passports, all of our CCs, both driver’s licenses, and all of our US and Irish currency. On the third day of our trip, we were getting ready to go off for a day trip. My husband hated how the fanny pack looked and insisted I put it in his camera backpack that had the Nikon logo on the front. I was reluctant to give up “control”, but my husband insisted stating that it was safe in the bag with his beloved camera. You know where this story is going, right? Our first stop was a quick lunch in the pub of a golf resort, after which we headed off on our outing along the rocky coastline. After driving about 15 minutes, we came to a scenic pullout and stopped to snap photos. No camera bag! The blood drained from hubby’s face. I said, “You realize what this means?” and gave H a “you’re not getting out of this alive” glare. We drove back to the pub in dead silence. H ran inside. There was a group of 6 men at our table and they greeted H with big smiles and laughs and said, “Aye, we thought you’d be back for this!”

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This is several months old but I just learned of it yesterday, probably was already posted about on cc - people coming together to support a man none of them knew who was cyber bullied for dancing while overweight. http://time.com/3895459/dancing-man-sean-o-brien-body-shamed-fat-dance-party-los-angeles/

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One day, DH were out in west Texas, and our battery died. After about 20 minutes, two young guys wearing cowboy hats and boots and driving an old pickup truck pulled over and asked if we needed help. They gave us a jump, and we were really grateful. DH said “There’s a little grocery store down the road. Can I buy you guys a six pack or something?” One shook his head no, and the other one said “Why? For doing the right thing?”

They shook hands, got in their truck and drove off. DH looked at me and said “I just love Bubbas.”

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My daughter is a freshman at the University of Minnesota, with 50,000 students. This past semester she lost her U-card for building access and money three times on campus, and she lost her debit card twice. All five times people found the card and turned it in or contacted her directly. It’s amazing!

Yes, most people are incredibly kind. I can give many more examples like this (having a lost wallet turned in at Disney World, getting help from strangers when broken down on the side of the road, etc.). Very nice way to start the New Year – by thinking of the kindness of others.

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I like this thread.

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Nice thread. Nice to hear about people being kind to each other.

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This reminds me of a hilarious bicycle ride I took with my D when she was about 9. First we see two kids sitting down with bikes next to them, one crying so we stopped to help. The crying kid had gotten some cactus needles stuck in his leg and they couldn’t pull them out (jumping cholla needles are barbed). So I popped the needles out and sent them home.

Soon after we see a loose dog running around. Stop to play with him and read his tag. Five minutes later we hear someone frantically calling the dog’s name, so I leave D with the dog and ride over to find the owner and bring her back to D to claim her dog.

A couple more good-deed type things happened to us on that bike ride, and by the time we finally got home D and I were both laughing about our curiously epic good-deed ride. Even one of the events would’ve been unusual, but four in the space of an hour went past the “strange” border into “is somebody punking me” territory.

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I used to take a 6:30 a.m. bus to Cambridge when I was in college. One morning I left my change purse, containing my week’s pay in cash, on the seat. I realized it, almost immediately, when I reached for my subway pass. I went back to the bus stop and told the driver of the next bus that arrived. He called my bus driver and he passed my purse on to another driver who was on his way to Harvard Square. In less than ten minutes I had my purse in hand!

Last April I was in Nashville for a two-day conference. I travel a lot for business and always rent cars. I never get the insurance. This time, when the agent asked if I wanted it, I said yes, and was surprised at myself. Not wanting to jinx myself, and because it was a short rental, I let it go and kept the insurance. When I met up with co-worker in the airport, I told her that something was going to happen with the car, but that we would be fine. Sure enough, on the morning of my departure, there was a weird nail-type thing with a bright green end that someone had stuck into the sidewall. I was going straight to the airport, so I left it in the tire. Well, after a few miles on the highway, the tire heated up and there was a loud pop. Soon thereafter, the tire lost all of its air. I was able to pull over on an exit ramp. A moment later a pickup with two young men pulled over. They changed my tire in about five minutes and I was back on the road! They wouldn’t accept anything in return. I made my flight. The rental company told me that without the insurance I’d have paid quite a sum for a new tire!

I have tons of these kinds of stories which is making think I’ve been blessed by the kindness of strangers my entire life. Never thought about it before this thread.

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Pay it back, pay it forward. I love the expression, “Do right and right will follow you.”

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This reminds me of the time I lost my phone at a public park. I had my family call the phone and it was constantly busy (but not closed) so we assumed that whoever had it intended to keep it. Turns out the guy who found my phone recharged it with credit and was calling every number in my sim card till he got to my sister’s number . I tried to pay him for his trouble but he adamantly shook his head and went on his way.

Good people do exist, and every time I meet one it’s like meeting a celebrity. They’re kindness is larger than life!

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I have lost ancient dumb cell phones many times and it was generally put in the lost and found wherever it was found.

Once, left my black waist pack at football stadium after football game, got back to find it still sitting on the seat. My mom left her purse with 4 passports in it on the seat of a bus in Mexico. She frantically retraced their steps and recovered the unnoticed bag–wholly unnoticed and intact!

Once we went to a beach and dad parked our car in the sand. When we returned to go home, the car was stuck fast in the sand. All 9 of us got out of the car and a nearby beach volleyball game came to a halt and all the players got our car out of the sand by working together!

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What is amazing to me is how when people hear a good thing, they are shocked. I often wondered if we had a magic ball and could see all the good being done around us daily, if we would see that the world really isn’t a crappy place, but one with both. The problem, of course, is that the good things are not ‘sexy’, so all we hear about are the dark sides of human behavior. In times when everything seems to be hitting the fan, I try to remember the good that happens even in dark times. For example, the group Trans Siberian Orchestra in their Christmas show plays a song called “Christmas Eve: Sarajevo”, that has become one of their trademark tunes. The song has a story behind it, a true one, in the middle of the madness that hit that region and Sarajevo in particular, a cellist on Christmas eve went to the center of Sarajevo and played, he literally risked his life to bring something human to an area rent by inhuman behavior, literally risking his life to do it because he thought it was something needed to be done.

And there are millions upon millions of people doing that every day, we just don’t hear about them. I also hear how people aren’t grateful, that no good deed goes unpunished, but I don’t believe that either. I have seen real gratitude when performing little acts of kindness, the time a friend of mine was going through a rough time and I patched up the exhaust system on his car when he couldn’t afford to repair it (passed inspection, and my patches held up until he junked the car…), the time I was going through a very rough time, was literally down to the point that I didn’t see any hope for the future, and an older gentleman brought me a cup of coffee on the bench I was sitting on in the Port Authority bus terminal in NY, and sat and listened to me as I talked, and that simple act, along with some well spoken words, got me headed home rather than doing god knows what, and in both cases there was real gratitude, both from me and to me.

I always think of one of my favorite O’Henry story, when a person comes to New York City (story was set around the turn of the 20th century), and he finds the city this cold, unfeeling place, and is ready to leave and go back home, swearing he will never fit in. At the end of the story, as he is getting ready to go back to his place and pack, he gets hit by a vehicle, and suddenly this cold, unfriendly place shows him true caring. At the end of the story, someone asks him where he is from, and he says “I am a New Yawker”.

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Just today I realized I left my expensive watch at our hotel last night. I’ve had jewelry taken out of my hotel room before at a ritz Carlson and I figured it was long gone. They actually called to tell me they found it when cleaning.

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When we were getting very discouraged due to kids’ health issues, we discovered a fabulous allergist who has become an amazing friend and will help us through thick and thin and has become a member of our nonprofit board of directors. Our kids also found out how very loyal their friends are, who made sure to include them whenever possible. It made all the health challenges much more bearable.

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Oh my goodness I would like to “like” the entire thread :slight_smile: