Thursday, October 11, 2007

The kindness of strangers

Recently while my husband was working, A large produce truck backed into his parked car and then drove off! Luckily two construction workers who were working on a store across the street witnessed the accident. They quickly read the phone number off the side of the truck and called the company. They told whomever answered that they were calling the police and the workers had better come back to the scene.
They then noticed that the truck turned into a gas station a little way up the street. These 2 good Samaritans ran to the gas station and confronted the driver. He claimed they WERE going to go back, but they needed to get gas first. ( HOW LAME of a Lie is that one??) Then the 2 good eggs went into several businesses till they found the owner of the car. By the time the police arrived the truck drivers were back at the scene, so they weren't ticketed for a hit and run. My husbands boss rewarded the 2 noble men with generous gift certificates to the salon. I am so happy they were rewarded. It seems like lately most people don't go out of their way for strangers. Some people may have taken the phone number down and left it on my husbands car, But to actually take off running after the truck, urging him to return to the scene? How great was that? The workers told my husband that they couldn't believe how damaged the car was especially because one produce man was actually standing on the curb, guiding his buddy So he Wouldn't hit the car! Talk about Lame!
One of my own kindness stories- once while driving near my home, I saw an older woman walking in the street but looking confused and turning one way then the other. I pulled over and asked if she was Okay. She said "I walk up to the stores everyday, but today I'm afraid I'm forgetting which way to go". I showed her the direction but asked "would you like a ride?" She was grateful and I gave her my hand and helped pull her up into my passenger seat. It felt so good to help a total stranger. Later on, I was thinking I hope it was a good deed, 'cause what if she wasn't able to find her way back home!?!

Let's hear your kindness stories... Have you stood up and witnessed an accident or crime? Have you helped a stranger in anyway that you care to share? Goodness is contagious, If you've demonstrated acts of kindness, I think you can be sure those people payed it forward. I also think what goes around comes around, So you are sure to have kindness come to you.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great guys, those construction workers!

Something I did recently make small packages of goodies (chocolate, hard candy etc.) and wrapped them like little gifts. Then I went to each one of our neighbors in the small apartment complex we live in and hung the little boxes on their doorknobs. Each box had a small card attached to it thanking them for being such good neighbors.

I did this because we have formed a little good neighbor community - we share bounty, help out with odd jobs, look out for our apartments when one of us is away and all kinds of other neighborly things. I feel grateful to have such people as neighbors - in other places I have lived I haven't been so lucky!

Lucy, I a going to have to ask for the second hint :( - thanks.

daisies said...

i like these kinds of stories, i think they happen a lot more than we think, i like to believe there are many everyday heroes out there ...

:) i have some stories of my own but feel funny about talking about them but one thing that i do and am open about is that i carry oranges with me and hand them out instead of change and once in a while i will take someone who needs it out for a healthy lunch.

xox

Anonymous said...

How nice to read a story about people doing good. Odd how that is now the exception instead of the rule.

I don't know that I've done anything tangible like giving people stuff, but I do let others go in front of me in line at stores and in traffic all the time. I'm rarely in a hurry so I figure I'll let those who are in a time crunch go first. So maybe my act of kindness is to get out of the way!!

Deirdre said...

Three months before my sister got sick she moved to a small town in Washington. People she'd never even met stepped forward to help her - not just with little things, but the kind of big, life-saving help you would never think people would do for a stranger. Everything from rides to chemo to dinner delivered daily to helping her get into and keep an apartment. Huge, kind, loving things. When I thanked the woman who organized all this she said they got as much out of it as Doreen did; they'd needed someone to love. I didn't know, until then, that this kind of caring and compassion existed in the world. Knowing she was being cared for helped me cope. Of all the places she could have moved to this one little town was a gift. I can't express how grateful I am.

Anonymous said...

Heartwarming, Lucy! It's nice to read stories when people are exhibiting their good sides to other people.

Your story about the woman losing her way and you helping her get to where she aimed to go made me think of my own Ma. When we lived in Detroit when I was a kid, Ma used to walk straight down the main road near our house to some shops, about a mile away. The whole family teased her when she lost her way one time...I mean, there was only one way to get to the shops and she had done it a million times. What I know now is, this can happen to ANYONE...especially now that I'm on the cusp of 50 myself! Still, Ma was a good egg about the whole thing and we had a lot of laughs over it.

tricia stirling said...

this is so great. things like this really do happen all the time, but unfortunately they tend to get overshadowed by the mean deeds of the jerks of the world. I think you're right about the pay-it-forward aspect. certainly those construction workers will benefit from the kindness of strangers someday too.