In everyday life, small acts of compassion and empathy often create touching moments that stay with us. A kind word, a quiet favor, or simple support can change someone’s day, and sometimes their future, proving that real heart is found in the smallest gestures.
1.
I’m a taxi driver. A woman got in crying, “Airport. Fast!” Halfway there she screamed into her phone, “Don’t let him leave!” She ran out without paying. I let her go.
3 weeks later an envelope arrived at my company. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened it. Inside was a photo of her hugging an older man at the airport.
On the back she wrote, “My dad. We hadn’t spoken in 3 years over a stupid argument. He was moving overseas for good. He thought no one cared if he left. My sister drove him to the airport but couldn’t convince him to stay.
I made it right before he walked through security. He saw me and stopped. I said, ’Don’t go.’ He said, ’Give me one reason.’ I said, ’Because I’m sorry.’
He cancelled his flight. You drove 40 minutes for free so I could say two words to my father. Thank you.” There was $500 inside. I kept the photo. It’s on my dashboard now.
2.
The other day, I got an email from my old college roommate, Mark. We hadn’t spoken in years, not since a huge blowup over rent and dishes that somehow ended a four-year friendship. I let the email sit unopened for almost a week, convinced it would be passive-aggressive or awkward.
When I finally clicked it, it was just a simple apology and a photo of his newborn daughter, Emma, wrapped in a hospital blanket. I almost didn’t respond out of pure pride. Instead, I wrote back, congratulated him, and apologized for my part in everything too.
He admitted he’d rewritten that email three times, sure I’d ignore him because he thought I hated him. That was three years ago. Now I’m packing a gift and booking a flight for his second baby’s shower, and it’s strange how close we came to missing all of this over something so small.
3.
I was doing my job and this guy gave me a tip, but the thing is it was a $10 tip in 5 $2 bills. This happened probably five years ago or so and to this day I still have like two or three left. I keep them stored in my wallet and hand out a $2 bill rarely to someone I feel deserves an odd little tip, but more so for the story behind it, kind of like what I feel that guy did for me.
More than 40 years ago, one of my regulars, would always leave me a $2 bill folded into a shirt, or pants, or a bow tie, as a tip for lunch. They were silver certificates, I think. I never spent them. Then my husband, who had a gambling problem, took them to buy lottery tickets. I had them tucked away, so he had to hunt, to find them. I wasn’t at home or I would have just given him $20 bucks. Still breaks my heart.
4.
Still crying about this, I was ready to quit that morning. I’d been messing up at work for weeks, and my manager called me into her office. I thought it was the talk.
Instead, she asked if everything was okay at home. I broke down and admitted my mom had just started chemo. She rearranged my schedule on the spot and told me to stop pretending I was fine. That one conversation kept me from walking out and burning the bridge I’d spent years building.
5.
“It was winter, and horrific Boston weather. One of my twins was deathly ill (autoimmune disease). I had to rush to Children’s Boston solo with both twins because my hubs was on the road. My son had to have a very, very expensive, special, anti allergen formula. We were struggling to pay for it before an exception from the insurance company gave us grace.
Walking with my kids into the entrance, a man dressed as Santa pressed a 100 dollar bill into my hand. I was shocked. He was doing that to every mom walking in. I thanked him profusely, and cried. This would pay for one day of my son’s formula.
It rocked my world and I will never forget it, ever. I think he ended up on the news that night in Boston, but you could tell it was purely altruistic. I have no idea who he was. This was in 2009.”
6.
“We got about 28 inches of snow. At that time we had a 3 car length drive way. I had been digging by myself for hours.
This man and his teenage daughter drove down the street. I’ve never seen them before or since. They stopped, got out and started digging from the street up. I was like, ‘I don’t have money,’ and they were like, ‘You look like you need help.’
We dug out my driveway together for about an hour. It was the kindest thing a stranger had ever done for me.”
7.
My neighbor has been tossing his grass clippings and vegetable scraps over my fence for months, and I was about two days away from filing a formal complaint. It felt lazy and disrespectful, and I was tired of raking up what looked like trash piling in the corner of my yard.
One Saturday morning, I finally marched outside ready to confront him. That’s when I noticed the pile wasn’t random, it was layered, almost intentional, and there were small stakes marking spots in the soil.
Before I could say anything, he came out and explained he’d been composting and didn’t realize how much was spilling through the broken slat in the fence. He offered to fix the fence and asked if I wanted to split whatever managed to grow there since the sun hits my side better.
By the end of the afternoon, we’d repaired the fence together and planted actual tomato starters on purpose this time. I went from drafting a complaint to planning a shared garden bed.
8.
“I was in the hospital and just got diagnosed with a brain tumor. My husband hadn’t arrived yet as I was transported in an ambulance.
A male nurse held my hand and offered to pray with me. It turned out to be benign, but I’ll never forget his kindness and compassion. He found his calling that’s for sure.”
9.
“I was a young widow with 2 kids. I had a decent job but not much extra money. 2 years in a row I received gift cards to a local grocery store, from an anonymous benefactor, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That allowed for some holiday treats.
Later, when I started making more money, I played that forward for a couple of single moms who were in that same situation.”
10.
“Had to take my son to a doctor’s appointment in a strange area. We got lost so we pulled over. I was at McDonald’s with my two boys under age 5. One was extremely autistic at the time. Yeah, it was a struggle.
I ordered for them, didn’t eat myself because I was stressing out. An old lady came up to me and offered me breakfast. She said, ‘A mother’s love needs to be fed too.’ I almost cried right there.
This McDonald’s location was in a lower income area. The fact that this woman still went to get me food when she probably didn’t have a lot in the bank, just amazed me. I had no mother or granny so it was some sort of missing maternal kindness that I felt, I suppose.
My boys are now 15 and 17 and I still remember that day, every time they go to McDonald’s. We continue to pay it forward to this day.”
11.
“Once I was at ihop with my toddler-aged daughter. A mail person stopped by my table and chatted with me for a few minutes and said she’d like to bless me by paying for our breakfast.
A few weeks later, I was at the grocery store. The woman behind me said she would like to bless me by paying for my groceries. I got goosebumps bc these 2 incidents were so close together.
I had a tire blowout on a busy freeway. I was pulled over to the shoulder waiting on roadside assistance. A random man stopped and changed my tire for me.”
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