16 Heartfelt Stories Proving Kindness Heals More Than We Realize

Sometimes, the most wonderful moments catch us completely by surprise. The people featured in this article opened up about those special individuals who brought a touch of joy and warmth into their lives. It’s the kindness and generosity of these compassionate souls that remind us there is still goodness in the world and restore our belief in humanity.

• I got pregnant at 15, so I got used to people’s judgment. One day, an elderly woman handed me a folded $20 bill and said, “Here, honey. Diapers get expensive.” Later at home, I found a small piece of paper tucked inside that said: You’re stronger than you think." Years later, I discovered faint writing on the back — my name. I’d never met the woman before. One day, while visiting my mom, I mentioned the note — and she went quiet. Then she smiled and said, “She was a neighbor I once helped when no one else would. Looks like she remembered.”
• At school, I had a friend, Pete. In 7th grade, I had a mishap: I suddenly got my period. I was wearing in a light denim skirt, so I couldn’t even get up from my desk.
  But Pete ran to the changing room, brought his windbreaker and gave it to me to tie it around my waist. I really appreciated it then.

• When I was in 5th grade, I was in hospital, lying in intensive care. When I woke up, my mum put a stack of letters on my bed. It turned out that my teacher, who treated me very well, had asked my classmates to write letters of support to me instead of dictation. Then the letters were given to my parents.
  It happened almost 40 years ago, and I still keep them in a separate locker.
• I was in a cafe, drinking coffee. A guy walks by and silently puts a folded piece of paper on my table. The paper says, “I probably should be minding my own business, so if you don’t like this intrusion into your life, don’t read the note and just throw it away.”
  Of course, I unfolded it, and there it was in block letters, “You are wearing shoe covers, which you probably didn’t take off after visiting a medical clinic. If this is not a mistake, but a deliberate choice of clothing, I apologize for the inconvenience.”
• I live in France. Once I came back to my home country, and it’s winter here, the time difference is 4 hours. I was travelling from a friend on the last bus and fell asleep.
  I woke up when the bus reached the end of the line. I asked the driver how to call a taxi here, and he said that I’d have to wait for the taxi for a long time. But he didn’t leave me.
  He asked me to wait at the stop while he drove the bus to the depot and took his car, and then he drove me to where I needed to go. On the way, we had a nice conversation, and he didn’t charge me any money, although I offered.

• I had a cyst inside my ovaries that became incredibly painful out of nowhere. I was white as a sheet and managed to leave work and get to the pharmacy nearby. I was hunched over and even lying on the floor at certain times because I was in so much pain waiting in line.
  After I paid for whatever it was that I bought, a lady in line asked if I needed a ride anywhere. She took me to the urgent care clinic and even stayed with me to take me home. What an angel. © Unknown author / Reddit
• For years, my wife and my mom couldn’t get along, and my wife was crying every night. So we cut contact completely. Then one day, I borrowed my wife’s old tablet. She’d forgotten to log out of her email. My blood ran cold when I saw dozens of emails addressed to my mom. Most were unsent.
  She asked how my mom was. She apologized. One draft read, “I know I wasn’t easy. But I want our child to know both grandmothers.” The next morning, I drove to my mom’s place alone, and I handed her printouts of the emails.
  It took time, but eventually, they met again. Now, they text and send each other photos of their garden plants. My wife still doesn’t know I saw those emails.
• When I was 8, my 3 brothers and I walked to this pond near our home. My mom was at work and my dad often left us to our own devices so no one knew where we were. Anyway, my older brother was 9, and my 2 younger brothers were 6 and 4. None of us knew how to swim, my parents had no money to give us lessons, and we were rarely around water, so they had never taught us themselves.
  When we got to the pond, my older brother said he was going to jump in. I kept asking him not to, but after a few minutes he did. And it was much deeper than he had thought. I watched in horror as he kept bobbing up and down, unable to get any footing and out of reach from us. He was drowning. Still makes me cry to think about it, and it has been almost 40 years since it happened.
  There was no one around us, I had my 2 little brothers by the hand, I was just screaming and crying and didn’t know what to do. Then he disappeared under the water, but a moment later, out of nowhere 2 men jumped out of the bushes, dove in the water, pulled my brother out, laid him on his side, and took off.
  I have no idea where they came from or what they had been doing, but they saved my brother’s life. Not a divine miracle, I guess, but very much a miracle for my family. © Amber333 / Quora

• One winter, the snowplow had completely blocked my entire driveway. The snow drift was at least 4 feet high. I was struggling to move all the snow, and a van pulls up.
  A couple and their 2 kids get out, snow shovels in hand, and they helped me dig out the driveway. They had come by to help one of my neighbors down the street and stopped to help me when they were leaving. I tried to give him some cash, but he wouldn’t take it. © LtColShinySides / Reddit
• It was 2004, I was in 8th grade, and my sister was in 5th grade. I was home alone and a fire started in our apartment...
  We lived in the hotel for about 2 weeks, but we needed to find somewhere to live... My school teacher’s mom had just recently moved into a nursing home, and they were selling her house. He took it off the market, and we lived in that house rent-free for about 6 months. © Junebug1515 / Reddit
• I live in the city, but previously I worked outside the city. I used to take the bus to work, it ran every 40–50 minutes. One morning I go and see 300 feet away that the bus is already picking up passengers. I ran as fast as I could, but 60 feet away from me the bus just left.
  And here I was standing at the bus stop, then a car stopped next to me, and the driver said, “Get on quickly, we’ll overtake it, and I’ll drop you off at the next one.” I had never hitchhiked before, but I decided to trust him. In the end, I met the bus at the next stop.

• When my oldest was a toddler, he went to daycare in the downtown area of our city. We took the bus, then the subway and then walked to daycare (didn’t have a car), then I’d get back on the subway for a few stops to go to work.
  One afternoon, it was pouring. I’m by myself, holding a 2-year-old, his backpack, my work bag and trying to book it 4 city blocks to the subway station. No hands left for an umbrella. A businessman (probably a high-priced lawyer, based on the area) walked us all the way to the entrance of the subway station, holding an umbrella over us the whole time. © elna_grasshopper / Reddit
• I’m an EMT. We were travelling with a team to a call, and stood at a traffic light. A car stopped nearby, and a man called me loudly from there. I lowered the window, expecting anything but a chocolate bar, and he said, “When you have time, have tea with it. Thanks for your work.”
• My boyfriend dumped me when I was pregnant, and then I went into labor prematurely. I didn’t even pack my bags to the maternity hospital, I was 2 months early. After I gave birth, a nurse came up to me and brought my mobile phone, saying, “Here, call your husband to bring things for you and the baby.”
  I was in tears, there was no one to call. My parents live in another region, my friend was away, my neighbor said she was busy without even listening, and my coworker couldn’t come because her daughter was ill.
  I called a girl with whom we used to lie in hospital together. So she called her husband from work, he bought everything and brought it to me. And every day they called and asked if we needed anything.

• We arrived at the seafront by car, and went for a walk. We came back and realized that we had forgotten to close the back window. And on the back seat, there was my backpack with documents and money. And I see that it’s not there anymore. My heart dropped.
  But suddenly I saw that the mat in the back seat was weirdly curvy. I lifted it up and there was my backpack underneath. And then we found a note under the window saying, “You didn’t close the back left window, I put your backpack under the mat.” I love people.
• I’m married, pregnant, and living with cerebral palsy. These days, my condition mostly shows as a slight limp and occasional weakness in my left hand. This morning, while I was waiting at a bus stop, an older man spotted me walking up and sneered, “And people like you give birth?!”
  The words hit me like a punch. My throat tightened with anger and humiliation, and I burst into tears. Before I could even respond, a pregnant woman standing beside me snapped at him, her voice ringing out: “What did you just say? Who even wanted to give birth to you? Clearly, your mother didn’t know what kind of person you’d turn out to be. And look at that ring on your finger — so some poor woman married you too, huh? What, people like you get to reproduce as well?”
  He stammered, trying to defend himself, but it was too late. Every woman at the bus stop jumped in, scolding him and closing ranks around me.

Be sure to check out our other article, where we’ve gathered stories of people whose small acts of kindness didn’t turn out as expected.