Recently, Redditor 4reddityo asked the r/AskReddit community, "What is the kindest thing you've done or seen?" And lemme tell you, the responses are exactly the kind of positive stories we need right now.
Here are some of the best ones:
1. The bike gift:
"I was selling my bike when I was a teen for $30. Got a hit and set up a location. Ended up being greeted by two kids on a single bike (one on the pegs) and the kid with the bike bought his friend my bike so they could ride together."
2. The David Tennant encounter:
"I'm epileptic. I was at a convention, standing in line to get David Tennant's autograph. I was so excited that I had a seizure and after I woke up, I was wheeled back behind a curtain that was behind the booth. A moment later, David Tennant's agent came up to me and asked me what colour pen I wanted. I was confused, but I said black. After he said that, he explained that 'David wanted to come back and make sure I was okay,' which he did. The first thing he said to me was, 'What are you doing falling down on me?' And he walked over and we had a full conversation. He asked my name and autographed the book I had brought for him too. All he wanted was to make sure I was okay."
3. The music professor:
"I had a breakdown in the middle of one of my college classes. I had been depressed for several weeks and feeling like I wasn’t good enough to be in my major. Really I just felt worthless.
I was doing a kind of a performance-based test in front of the whole class, and I was doing terribly. I was really angry at myself for not being better. My professor said to me, 'Do you want to try it again at the end of class?' I nodded and went back to my seat and immediately started crying uncontrollably. Ended up excusing myself to the bathroom so I wouldn’t cry in front of the class.
I performed again at the end of the class, and my professor was really patient with me and gave me feedback. The thing that really got me was before he dismissed the class, he wrote down in the binder I had in front of me, 'You are a strong, smart musician, and you have a bright future ahead of you. I believe in you, and I’m here for you.' I cried even harder after that but in a good way. I had never felt a teacher care for me that much, and that genuinely turned around my entire year and made my sense of self-worth improve so much."
4. The post-op helper:
"I was talking to some random guy in the bar, he was just grabbing a bite to eat. He said he was having surgery the next day and didn't have someone to pick him up after...his girlfriend had just broken up with him and moved, and his backup fell through. I ended up driving him there, sitting with him before he went back, calling his parents when he got out, sitting with him in recovery, picking up his post-op meds, driving him home, and making sure he was okay before I left. Never saw him again, and that's okay."
5. The tough forester boss:
"It was my first job in the field of conservation and my boss was a real hard-ass, but secretly a kind man. I had a 6-month-old son and was a 20-year-old single mom. I had just found out some bad news and was really sinking financially. My son's dad was dipping in and out. I wasn't emotionally mature enough for a relationship at the time. I had too much on my plate. One thing after another. I was the only woman on a crew of seven men, working to plant trees, fix USFS roads and restore habitats in the PNW for 10 hours a day. Too girly to relate to the guys, too manly for my girlfriends. Nobody understood. I felt hopeless. One day I cried on lunch break, it was all stacking up and I was cracking under pressure. After work the next day, as the other crew members filtered out of the work trucks, my boss said to me, 'Just wait for a second.' I was irritated because I thought he was going to ream me for my work performance (which he frequently did, for everyone). Instead, he waited until everyone was gone, pulled out his wallet and took a wad of cash out. He said 'I don't know how much is here, 'cause I just grabbed a handful. But I want you to take every dollar in my wallet and help get yourself out of that hole you're in.'
It's been almost a decade since then, and my life has been completely turned around. I'm deliriously happy now. That gruff, sour old forester made a big change in my life, and for much more than that moment. I'll always appreciate having the opportunity to know and work for him."
6. The returned favor:
"I was 16, driving over to my girlfriend's house on a rainy Saturday afternoon. There was a man biking in front of me and when he went to get onto the sidewalk, he completely ate shit. I pulled in to the closest driveway and saw that his bike was mangled and his arm was bleeding. I threw his bike in my trunk, gave him my old sweatshirt for his bloody arm, and drove him home. When I dropped him off, he gave me his card...turned out he was a dentist at a local research hospital. Well, fast-forward to when I'm 19 and the same man took out my wisdom teeth for free as part of a 'research experiment.' Not sure if there was actually an experiment that they needed wisdom teeth for, but just goes to show that good things happen to good people."
7. The early shift:
"I worked at Starbucks. One morning around 6:30 a.m., a customer came in and I asked how she was doing. 'Oh its already crazy and I haven't even started,' she replied. To make her day go a little easier, I gave her her coffee order for free.
A few days later, I was having a terrible morning — 6:30 a.m. and already chaos. She came in, asked me how I was doing and I said the above.
A couple hours later, she came back with a gift bag for me. Inside was a nice bottle of wine.
We'd both had bad mornings, and someone's small gesture had made the day just a little bit nicer."
8. The Megazord leg:
"I worked at a museum that had a summer camp and I was in charge of the little kids (6–7 years old). There was this kid that came from a wealthy family, and he brought this massive Megazord one day to play with. And this other kid (whose family was struggling at the time) wearing a shirt with a wolf on it tripped and scratched his knee and started crying. The other kid steps in while I was taking care of the blood, and says, "Do you like wolves?" to which the other kid answers while sobbing, "Yeah...a lot." Then the rich kid proceeds to snap the right leg of his Megazord off to transform it into a purple wolf. He gave it to the other kid and let him keep it just because he liked it. They became best friends from that point on."
9. The good Samaritan stepdad:
"Was at the mall with my mom and stepdad about 20 years ago. Stepdad needed to use the bathroom, so we waited. He comes out holding a bank envelope, like the fabric kind that a store would use to deposit money into the bank. He found almost $12,000. He got the deposit slip and found the store and RETURNED IT. Honestly, that man is amazing and I wish I was like him."
10. The gift card giver:
"I was 18 and living away from home for the first time (from the UK, moved to Canada). I couldn't afford much, so I'd walked two miles through the snow to buy bedding in a discount shop and was having a miserable day. The woman in front of me in the cashier queue put $50 on a store voucher card, handed it to me and walked away before I had a chance to react.
In the middle of a tough day, it really made a difference. Definitely the most memorable random act of kindness I've ever experienced."
11. The angel of the vet's office:
"Last year, we had to take our dog of 17 years to the vet to be put to sleep. It is a small office, so I am sure our bawling was easily heard by people in the waiting room as we sat with her in her final moments. As we were leaving, we had a nice conversation with a lady that happened to be picking up her dog. She offered her condolences, and the vet said I could just come back tomorrow to pay our bill. I called the next day to find out how much I owed and found out that nice lady had paid our bill for us."
12. The coin collector:
"An old lady I met on an Amtrak train when I was 10 years old found out I was interested in coins. She asked me for my address and promised to send me 'a couple books.'
A few weeks later, a big package arrived on my doorstep. Inside was her entire coin collection, most of it carefully catalogued and arranged in coin books."
13. And finally, the theatergoer:
"I work at a theater box office that has Broadway performances. Hamilton was premiering for the week and employees were not allowed to get tickets unless they paid for one and even with the minor discount it was expensive. As a college student, I could not afford it at all and it was my dream to watch it. I was a huge Hamilton fan since it first began.
On the very last day of the show, a lady goes up to my ticket window and asks me, 'Have you seen the show and do you know if it’s worth it?'
'No but I for sure know it’s worth it! It’s been sold out and very popular.'
'Here, my daughter couldn’t come, you can have her ticket.'
It was a $550 ticket in the third row, center of the theater. I am beyond blessed and I will not forget how kind this stranger was. My manager was also so kind to cover my ticket window and let me leave early to see the show."
If you have a story of a time you witnessed a random act of kindness, let us know in the comments and we might feature your story in an upcoming BuzzFeed post or video!
Quotes may have been edited for length and/or clarity.