10 People Describe The Kindest Thing A Stranger Has Ever Done For Them

1. “One time I got my period unexpectedly and was walking around for who knows how long with it being…noticeable that it had just started. A random woman stopped me in the street and kinda pulled me off to the side and told me what was going on. I was mortified and incredibly panicked, but she totally saved my dignity (well, what was left of it) and gave me her cardigan to tie around my waist. I’ve never seen her again, but I’ll never forget it. I hope one day I can somehow return the favor.”

— Sahra, 25

2. “I was out one night in London (where I was studying abroad) and my wallet fell out of my purse. The next day, I was moping around my apartment, trying to figure out how to recover from losing all access to money in a foreign country (where my bank didn’t even exist), when I got a call from the U.S. Embassy. A homeless man had shown up that morning and had given a security guard my wallet after he had looked inside and seen I was an American student. The guy didn’t take any money or use my credit card at all. It was truly a miracle; I still don’t even know how to properly react.”

— Patricia, 21

3. “I was having a rough night. Had a total breakdown outside of a bar and was hyperventilating, sitting on the pavement. This girl walked by with a group of her friends and saw me, told her friends to head inside the bar without her for a sec, and crouched down to my level and asked me what was wrong. I usually hate divulging personal information to strangers, but I spilled my guts to her and she just sat there and listened to me…On the sidewalk outside of a bar at midnight. She actually called me a cab to take me home and gave me a hug before I left. Never even got her name so I could thank her. I really needed it.”

— Peter, 23

4. “My son was about 5 or 6 years old, and he loved it when we would play games and I would chase him and knock him down to tickle him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell the difference between us playing and me actually trying to run after him. One time he started sprinting towards a busy street and I felt like the wind was getting knocked out of me because I could just foresee him running into traffic, laughing because he thought it was a game. Everything felt like it was in slow motion; I couldn’t catch up to him. All of a sudden, a woman who was waiting at the stoplight saw my son running away from me and immediately bent down and picked him up before he could step off the curb. I was sobbing hysterically. I’ll never be able to thank her enough—she saved his life.”

— Joan, 45

5. “I was leaving a club by myself (I know, dumb) and as I was walking down the street, two girls came running up and linked arms with me. I sort of stopped walking to free myself from their flimsy limbs, when one of them, with a forced smile, whispered something about how a guy was following me. The two girls walked me all the way to a more well-lit area (chatting my head off the entire time to distract me from the fact that I could’ve almost been kidnapped) and then helped me call a cab to get home safely.”

— Sally, 21

6. “When I first flew with my newborn, I was incredibly nervous that people were (understandably) going to give me grief if she started crying. Inevitably, she was very uncomfortable after about an hour, and started getting fussy. The people in front of me kept turning around and giving me looks, which stressed me out even further. She started really getting loud, when one of the people in front of me turned around and officially asked me to ‘shut the baby up.’ The guy next to me got up and started whisper-shouting at the person in front of me—scolding them for expecting me to be able to control a newborn in such uncomfortable quarters. I was beaming for the rest of the flight.”

— Luke, 37

7. “One night after dinner in the city of Copàn, Honduras, my community service group and I were walking back to our bus when I dramatically almost fell into a pothole in the middle of the sidewalk. Two Honduran locals, who happened to be walking by when I fell, picked me up and carried me to the bus. They kept trying to talk to me in Spanish (probably to distract me from the blood gushing down my legs) and I was frantically shaking my head because I couldn’t understand. They were laughing their heads off at me, which made me start to laugh too. They even carried me onto the bus and put me down in a seat before heading off without another word.”

— Nina, 19

8. “I fell asleep—a deep sleep—on my commuter train, and managed to wake up right as the doors were opening for my stop. I got up, surprised and groggy, and flipped my bag over so that all the contents spilled out onto the floor. Momentarily paralyzed with sleepiness and embarrassment, bystanders slowly began to step in and pick up my stuff. There I am, not moving, as children are picking up my library books and pens and businessmen are thrusting their bodies in front of the automatic doors, calling out to the conductor that this was my stop. Aside from it being one of the more embarrassing moments of my life, it was still the nicest thing a group of strangers has ever done for me.”

— Alex, 22

9. “I was starving and waiting in this tremendously long line for food, only to get to the front and order when I realized the place was cash only. I never carry cash and I almost felt like crying, but before my stomach fully ate itself, the guy behind me covered me. I was shocked. There’s absolutely no way I would ever do that for somebody else—I mean, if the guy in front of me forgot cash after waiting in a long line for food I would’ve probably just scoff at him and roll my eyes until he got out of my way. I kept trying to offer to buy him a beer or something from somewhere else (hopefully somewhere that accepted card) but he was having none of it. Totally awesome.”

— Felix, 21

10. “This probably isn’t the best example, but at the time it was truly incredible. I was running late to a job interview and as I parked, realized I forgot my wallet so I couldn’t pay for parking. I was borderline tears at the total fuck up this day was turning into, when I realized the person who had the parking spot before me had overpaid the meter—giving me two free hours of parking. I’m convinced the good mood that put me in is what got me the job.”

— Mike, 23