We used to have a Volkswagen westfalia van. Pre-kids, we’d take it on many fun adventures. Once we headed down to the Redwoods and our van pretty much died in Arcata on a Saturday late afternoon.
A random young man came over and offered to help. We were able to buy a part before the local shop closed, and after that he worked for several hours to get the part replaced. We bought food for him during the repair process and gave him whatever $ we had. Nothing else would’ve opened up before Monday morning so we would’ve been stuck. Turned out his dad used to repair VWs for a living so he learned all about them growing up. He kind of struck me as a homeless hippie (says the person that used to drive a VW van =)) )
One other trip we were driving back from the Oregon Coast in the same van and it died in the coast range. An RV stopped and picked us up, offering us a ride back to Portland. No charge, and they dropped us at our door. We were grateful, and they refused payment.
We were stranded in a car with a sick kid and one of my friends called her dad, (he lived where we were stuck) who drove out to get us and drove us home-- a 90 minute drive.
Someone followed me home to tell me my spare keys were hanging out of the trunk.
A friend saw on social media that my parents had lost power, she told a nearby friend and they brought a generator out through the snow. .
My kid’s coworkers made sure there was someone to take him to lunch his first day
A college student paid for my lunch last week because I reminded him of his mom
I paid for a serviceman’s lunch, in return.
And, when we were building a huge garden for our nonprofit, and trying to figure out how to move all the dirt, a friend came during the day and moved it all with a skid steer, and left a big sign that said “it’s a miracle!!!” in the finished plot. He still swears it wasnt him
I was flying from Chicago to Berlin with my then seven month old son on a very crowded plane. We were in the window seat, with two empty seats next to me and just before the door closed a couple came to claim the seats. They both took one look at my son and started complaining “A Baby! We can’t fly next to a baby! We need to sleep! We don’t like babies!” Since we were already late, the steward made them sit down rather than try and move them, and I don’t blame them. At wheels up, my son fell asleep and slept the whole time until we actually landed in Berlin. The couple however never shut up. It was too hot, it was too cold, they didn’t like the movie, they didn’t want this dinner, they wanted the other dinner, they needed a drink NOW, they needed a pillow, they needed to get out into aisle even through the stewards were working there. I sat in my seat the whole time, never getting up once, my son sound asleep on my lap. As the plane landed and everyone was getting ready to deplane, the man in the seat ahead of me turned around and announced in a VERY loud voice “Your son behaved beautifully, and he was a delight to fly with, unlike SOME people” Everyone on the plane began to clap. As we left the plane, everyone (except the loud couple) stopped to admire my son, to help me with my bags, to just smile and say have a nice trip. I was so grateful.
I was a new driver then, dozed off somewhere in Mississippi on a trip to New Orleans, I was really lucky to be on the fastest lane and there was a smooth/wide medium for me to veer into, my friends and I were totally awake and shaken by then! Several cars stopped and the drivers came out to help me and my friends, they checked on us and the car to make sure all were ok before they helped us go back on the road. Mississippi has always held a special place in my heart ever since.
I was on vacation with D2 alone in Boston when she was 4. We were in a restaurant, and I had to leave her at the table to go get water and silverware for us across the room. D2 was a child that one wanted to leave NO loopholes with. So I carefully explained where I was going, and that she should stay in her seat while I was gone, and waited for her to confirm that this plan was okay before I got up. When I got back, a very kind woman at the next table complimented me on explaining so well and respectfully to D. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was mostly because I was afraid D would bolt off if I didn’t secure a promise not to — but it did make me feel good about my parenting at a time when it was often a very stressful experience and I wasn’t at all sure how it was going to turn out.
When I was first divorced, the neighbor behind me with whom I was friendly but didn’t know well knocked on my front door one day and said he had noticed that my husband’s vehicle had not been in the driveway for several weeks. He just came by to tell me if I ever needed anything, he would be happy to help. It touched me so much that I was sobbing when he left. After that, he made his tweenage sons mow my lawn on a regular basis. He would never let me pay him or them. In a few years, I was in a financial position to hire a lawn maintenance company and soon the neighbors moved away. I’ve always thought if I won the lottery, I would find them and write a large check to each one.
My mom was the stranger — she and I flew across the country to visit her sister. Mom was on the aisle, her choice. Across the aisle is a family with two small boys, whom my mom promptly befriended. When the mom was looking tired, mine suggested that they swap seats, and she would watch the boys. And then I swapped with dad, so we babysat , and they slept. This what happens when former teachers travel Mom taught them origami, read them books, and they taught her Minecraft…
I have few stories, not from random strangers, about how some Americans have made my immigrant family feel welcome and helped us integrate to this country.
When we first arrived my siblings and I had a special ed teacher to help us with English (we didn’t speak a word of it). This teacher soon found out we didn’t know much about American life. She would come over to our house during her spare time to take us grocery shopping. She taught my mother how to bake a cake for one of our birthdays (couldn’t afford a store bought). When my father was looking for his first job after graduate school, she helped my father with his applications and ultimately drove him 300 miles to a job interview (the company wouldn’t for it and our car was too old to go for 300 miles). I think she was in her late 20s when we first met her, about the same age as my kids now. She definitely went over and beyond with her job.
My 6th grade teacher used to invite me to his family’s weekend home to hang out with his daughter because I didn’t have any friends due to my language problem. He praised me in front of class on how fast I was learning English to give me more confidence. I was extremely uncomfortable as a 12 year old who couldn’t communicate with my classmates. He used to look out for me to make sure I had someone to eat with at lunch time or have someone to sit with at various events. Little did he know I would become such a boss lady when I went off to middle school.
With all the hostility we are hearing on the media against immigrants, I have to remember how kind so many Americans were to my family when we first moved here. I hope we will continue to welcome immigrants and remember who we really are as Americans.
I was backpacking in Europe and got on the ferry from Holland to Dover, intending to sleep on the ship’s deck, as lots of kids did. A German woman started talking to me, said the friend she had been traveling with stayed behind in Europe, but she had the friend’s ticket for their room. She insisted I use it. The only favor was to buy the individual allotment of duty free cigarettes for her. She insisted on paying for them, too. And our taxi into town. So I had the bed, the porter who brought us orange juice and rolls in the am. Random act of kindness.
After I slid into the median on an icy interstate overpass late at night (and bent my steering column), a snowplow driver radioed for help (before the cell phone era) and stopped behind my car, lights flashing, to protect me until a police officer arrived to use his car to push mine over to and down the off- ramp.
DH, DS and I arrived at a train station in central Turkey only to discover NO taxis, NO buses and NO way to get into town… and we don’t speak Turkish. A man who had been on the train spoke a few words of English and saw us looking uncertain. He emptied all the packages out of his back seat, beckoned us to follow him, and piled us all in his small car, took us into town, stopping several times to drop off packages at small businesses. (I was worried; not sure if we were safe or if this was some nefarious plot to kidnap us…). He dropped us off at transportation center in town and PAID for our tickets - then waved off our offers to pay. Such a kind guy!
Add me to those who love this thread, and let me add a story from just a few years back.
DS was attending Columbia and we went to visit him for parents weekend. Before we left, DH and I decided we wanted to take a walk on the High Line Trail - the converted rail line in lower Manhattan. I told DH to drive the car and park closer to the other end, and then walk halfway back to meet me. I had walked alone in NY years before and thought nothing of it, I had my headphones and was ready to enjoy the rest of a beautiful day - and honestly I needed some time to myself - normally I take a walk by myself every morning through our neighborhood and it really helps, but because of rainy weather and then the travel, I hadn’t had a walk by myself in several days.
I have had a variety of medical issues over the years, but I clearly hadn’t expected a random vertigo episode to hit me shortly after I started my walk. Up to that point, most of the time I’d had vertigo, it would be first thing in the AM and I simply couldn’t get out of bed. Out of nowhere, I was told I lost all the color in my face, and my eyes were rolling back into my head. I don’t remember much except a very kind young couple who stopped and asked if I was okay, they helped me sit down in a shady spot, and gave me a cold water bottle from a backpack. The young woman said she was familiar with vertigo because her aunt had it often. They were just asking me if they should call someone for me, or 911, when DH called wondering where I was. He was only a couple blocks away from me at that point, and they waited with me as he ran to me. Fortunately, this episode was very brief, and much milder than others that have hit me, but these 2 NYC angels prevented me, a complete stranger, from falling or much worse. As I was resting with DH, there was a street musician playing a saxophone, and just when I told DH I just wanted another minute or two, the guy on the sax started to play our song, I don’t think it could have been a more beautiful version. Since the couple wouldn’t let us pay them for the water bottle, DH left a rather large tip for the musician.
I love this thread. It’s reminding me of all the wonderful people I’ve met and that sometimes tiny acts of kindness can have a big impact.
When I was a college student I took an Outward Bound biking trip through the White Mountains. We spent all day in hard physical exercise and our nights camping. About two weeks into the trip we asked a dairy farmer if we could pitch our tents in his field. He said yes and later came down to our camp to offer us the use of his cow shower. You wouldn’t believe how wonderful a hot shower feels after weeks of stewing in your own stink. The shower was enormous so we showered three at a time surrounded by the shifting cattle. It’s one of my favorite memories.
Not me, but my D and her friend freshman year of college.
They were driving home for Thanksgiving through the rolling wheat fields of Eastern Washington when the girl’s car broke down, still 4 hours from home. They managed to pull off onto a side road but there is no cell service out there to call anyone. Two kind local women driving by stopped to see if they needed help. “Yes,please,” was all the sheepish reply they could muster.
The women drove them about 5 miles to one of their houses to use the phone. They called us and called AAA but they could not get a tow truck out for about 2 hours. They fed the girls, sat with them for those 2 hours, and drove them back to the car to meet the tow truck. The kind tow truck driver let them ride along and took them to a repair place 90 miles closer to our home, not charging for the extra mileage not covered by AAA. W met them there and drove them home that evening.
D made cookies for the women and dropped them off on her way back through after break.
There were some years growing up we were exceedingly poor so I do my best to repay the kindnesses shown me and my family over the years. Seeing how much everyone appreciates it and remembers it is a beautiful thing.
I just remembered another one. Our “oil lamp” light came on as we were about to leave the parking lot of a trailhead in New Mexico, while on vacation. We were unable to drive at all. Luckily someone else was about to leave and he drove my husband to an auto supply store to buy some oil, and then drove him back to the trailhead! And that was after he was done with his hike!
Mom taught them origami, read them books, and they taught her Minecraft…