A little act of kindness

[RheannaEM]

These stories start from the bottom of this email, so mine is the newest one added. Add your story, and forward it on! :D

Patty

 

I used to work in the shoe department of a store in CA, and I remember this family coming in one day to get shoes for the daughter, who looked to be around 12 years old. She asked to try on a pair and told me she needed a size 7. I brought the shoes to her but it was clear they were way too small. I offered to measure her but she said no, just try a 7 1/2. This too was far too small. The girl looked terribly embarrassed, and the mother, who was very tiny and petite, laughed and said, "thank goodness I don't have big feet! I wear a 5!" The girl reddened more, as I quietly offered to get her another size. I could see what she really needed was more like a 10, which is the size I wear, but she could only get herself to try going up 1/2 size at a time. The mother continued with rude wize-cracks with each attempt. I felt very sorry for her daughter, and mad at the mother for such cruel thoughtlessness. At one point she even called out to her husband, "Look, honey! We have a big foot in the family!" and again she thanked goodness that she wasn't a big foot with a clod-hopper sized shoe.  

 

When we painstakingly finally reached the size she needed, a 10, this cute little girl, who would clearly grow up to be tall in a tiny family, had tears on her red cheeks. By now I wanted to smack that mom silly, but instead I was very polite and nice to the little girl. I looked down at the little girl her and lifted her little face up toward me, and I smiled a huge smile at her and all I said was, "I wear a 10". I made sure to say it with obvious pride in my voice.

 

Well, this was such a small thing, but I tell you, that little girl's face changed in a heartbeat. It lit up like she'd just got a puppy on Christmas Day! She was beaming! The mother's mouth snapped shut and I didn't hear another peep from her while they paid for the size 10 shoes, and a happy, proud little girl walked away with her new box of shoes.

 

I felt really good about being able to make that girl feel better about who she was. As other's have said, I felt like that tiny moment was the reason I was there that day, to say the right thing to someone who needed the right words, no matter how simle or few they may be.

Patty

Oh my God. That made me cry. That is the most touching beautiful thing I've ever heard. If only we could all remember this... every... day.. of our lives. Maybe we should all write our own stories of a moment when we did something to bring light to someone elses life. If only for a moment. If you know me well, you'll know that this is important to me. All the little things.

Love with all my heart,

Kyla

 

My small story is of an elderly man. I used to work at a place called Healthy Hound and he was one of our clients. He came in every other month or so when I first started working there and every time I watched how my manager would see him before he even got out of his car. She would walk to the door and hold it open and wait for him to get there, it took quite a while. She would hold his arm as he walked with his dog, his best friend, to the chair she had put out for him to sit in while we clipped his dogs nails. She talked away to him, gave him a discount without him knowing, for he would've refused, and walked him back out the door all the way to his truck and said goodbye. I was amazed by the kindness of this woman and I made a point to tell her that before we parted ways. But.. before we did, I noticed this man coming in more and more and when his dog barely needed a nail clip at all. I began to run the front of the store more and so her kindness turned into mine and I waited for him to come inside, and I walked him to his chair, and I talked to him for as long as he needed to chat to me. I walked him back out to his truck and talked to him even more. I was perfectly happy to be doing it and yu could see in his eyes how much he needed that. It takes a certain amount of patience to remember to be this kind but when you are, it touches your heart like nothing else and leaves you with a beautiful memory of someone you may otherwise have never noticed.  

Pass this on please. Return it to me. I want to hear some goodness.

Love,

Kyla

 

 

  

 

GOOD STORY

 

----So I walked to the door and knocked. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated'.

'Oh, you're such a good boy', she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly. 'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice'.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.'

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds.

She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' she asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I said

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

You won't get any big surprise in 10 days if you send this to ten people. But, you might help make the world a little kinder and more compassionate by sending it on.

Thank you, my friend...

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

[DeannaScraps]

Sep. 7, 2008 at 9:43 AM

It's amazing what a little kindness can do for a person.

I'll always remember when I worked downtown Los Angeles when I was 18 or 19 and took the the bus to work. Everyday at the main bus terminal a man would get on the bus with a cane. The bus was always full and I watched him stand at the front of the bus looking for a seat. I was sure someone would get up for him, but no one did. So I gave him my seat. He thanked me and I stood in aisle.

Everyday he got on the bus and everyday I gave him my seat. I started waving to him from wherever I was sitting and he would make his way down to me.

One day I got up and a young 'man' immediately sat down in my seat.

I told him,

"Excuse me, but I give my seat to this gentleman every day. I would appreciate it if you got up for him."

This didn't do any good, so I had to resort to my 'angry, I'm not talking any crap from you' mode and most rudely and LOUDLY told him to get out of the seat! He finally did and the gentleman sat down.

There was a lot of support from the people around us. The 'regulars' certainly knew our routine.