15+ Stories of Kindness That Changed How People See the World

The best acts of kindness don’t announce themselves. They slip into ordinary days, change something quietly, and disappear before anyone can say thank you. The stories in this article come from those moments: real, unplanned gestures that didn’t try to be heroic, yet ended up meaning everything to someone.

“The anniversary of my friend’s death is coming up. Today, I was fully prepared for an awful day at work when, on my first bathroom break, I found this next to the sinks.”

“I had found it by pure chance, but I felt like it was a sign from someone that people are still kind. I really needed that today. Whoever made this and left it there, I hope you have a good life.”

• About ten years after my mom passed away, it was around Mother’s Day, and everyone was posting pictures of their mothers on Facebook. Since my mom passed away before cell phone pictures became popular, I didn’t have any on my phone. I posted on Facebook that I was sad I didn’t have any photos of my mom to share. I don’t know why I didn’t think to scan a photo, but regardless, both my aunt and a former neighbor had posted pictures of my mom. About a week later, an older gentleman named Neil who delivered products to my office every week came up to my desk and said he wanted to give me something. When I looked, he had taken one of the photos of my mom posted on Facebook and made a beautiful magnet. I started crying right then and there because it was so thoughtful and such a surprise. Ten years later, I’m crying again as I type this. Sadly, Neil fell ill and passed away, but I still have that magnet of my mom. It’s hanging on my refrigerator, and I think of him and his kindness every time I look at it. © NerdySmurf / Reddit
• About ten years ago, I was homeless. I had my things stolen. One night in Portland, I was freezing cold. I shivered on a concrete bench. Another homeless man came up to me. We talked for a while. Then he gave me a nylon shirt. It wasn’t much, but he could tell I was cold. He did that for me. I still have it. It saved me. © treuchetfight / Reddit
• As a kid, I spent so much time at the library, hiding from home and my neighborhood, and sometimes falling asleep in the stacks, that a librarian put a cot in an unused maintenance closet and gave me the key code. Over time, she added a few amenities. She added a small spare bookshelf, a blanket, and stuffed animals. She never asked me why I was there so much, but I could tell she had some vague idea. All she asked in return was that I tell her about what I read. I found her a dozen years later. She was retired, but I guess she’d told some of the others who worked there about our setup. I’m sure she did so they wouldn’t harass me. They told me how to reach her. I took her to dinner to thank her. I told her everything, which she had more or less already figured out. At the time, I had just graduated college and was working with at-risk kids. I told her she was part of the reason I was able to do it. I could tell she treasured knowing that. © s-multicellular / Reddit

“A stranger bought me flowers and a card today.”

• Today, I found out that my grandmother’s cancer has become terminal, and she has less than six months to live. I was at work when I found out, so I went out to my car, where I completely broke down, sobbing on the phone to my boyfriend. Apparently, a customer who regularly shops at my store recognized me and saw me, but I had no idea anyone was around. After I composed myself, I went back to work. Shortly after, one of my associates approached me, saying there was something taped to my car. I had him remove it from my car and bring it to me. It was a bouquet of beautiful flowers and a card. I broke down into tears again while reading it. No one knew about the news I had just received or how heavy my heart was at that moment, yet someone cared about me enough to leave such a kind gesture. I immediately thought it was from a thoughtful coworker, so I texted the number, thanking them for the flowers and asking who had left them. They told me that they were a customer whom I had helped and welcomed into the store many times. I still don’t know who the man is, but his kindness brightened my day when I needed it most. He had no way of knowing what I was crying about, yet he took the time to do something good and be selfless for someone who had only said hello to him a few times. Good people still exist, and moments like this remind me that there is still faith in humanity. © Fun-Story-843 / Reddit

• There was a group of elderly women on my flight. I boarded at 7 a.m. on a Monday. I was surrounded by businessmen who had no patience for a crying girl. I held it together until the plane landed, and then I started to cry. The ladies asked my partner if I was okay, and he told them that my brother had died, and that I was flying home for his funeral. These sweet ladies had been on a girls’ trip to Napa. They asked if they could pray for me, and then they handed me $100. I was so confused, but they told me to go do something nice for myself because I needed it. I could get a pedicure or a massage. Whatever I needed, just to take care of myself. At the time, I didn’t know how much grief would consume me over the next year. That was one of the worst days of my life. I’ll never forget them. They were angels sent for me. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I remember when I was a student. I was walking around a Christmas market in Birmingham when I saw a guy selling food that smelled amazing. I checked my pocket to see how much money I had left, and I only had £20 to last a whole week. Feeling broke and hungry, I decided to skip dinner that day. Then a stranger tapped me on the shoulder and said I had dropped my money. After picking up the ten pounds, I checked my pocket and realized I hadn’t dropped any money. To this day, I’m not sure if that stranger purposely dropped that £10 so that I could afford food. © DinnerWell / Reddit
• My daughter lost her first tooth and received a dollar from the tooth fairy. We were in the car, on our way to my mother’s house. She was sitting in the backseat, clutching the dollar, excited to show everyone. We stopped at a red light, and there was a homeless man standing on the median with a sign asking for help. My daughter asked if he had a place to live. I replied that I didn’t think so. She asked me to roll down her window. When I did, she stuck her dollar out and handed it to him. “He needs food more than I need a new toy.” It made me cry and served as a reminder to be a better person. © ironsprite / Reddit

“My mother, who was on the verge of becoming homeless herself, stopped to help a homeless man and his dog.”

• She has precancer and can’t afford healthcare. She lives in a rundown camper with holes in the floor and works herself to death for minimum wage. Yet, she stops to give money and food to people that others avoid. My mom is my hero. She goes through the worst, most unimaginable situations, yet she still has the purest, kindest heart I’ve ever known. © meanie_beanie5 / Reddit

• I tutored my landlord’s son for three years, free of charge, and in all that time his parents never once thanked me. So when they told me last month that my rent would be doubled, I wasn’t surprised, just shattered. After eighteen years in the same apartment, the place where my whole life had slowly settled, I was being pushed out simply because I couldn’t afford to stay. A week later, a small envelope slid under my door. I almost didn’t open it, convinced it was another notice. Instead, it was a letter from him, the son. As I read, my hands began to shake. He reminded me that I had taught him for free while his parents charged me rent, that I was the only one who believed he could go to college, and that he had built a good life because of that. Then he wrote that although he couldn’t change his parents, he could change what they had done to me, and that from now on he would pay my rent every month for the rest of my life. I sank to the floor and cried until my chest hurt, not from fear this time, but from the shock of realizing that a small kindness I barely remembered giving had come back to me when I needed it most. The boy I once helped with fractions had become the reason I could stay home.
• My husband and I were sitting on our porch, holding hands and crying. We were overwhelmed while waiting to find out if my tumor was cancerous. Our neighbor saw this when he came home. About half an hour later, he came over with some freshly baked cookies. He didn’t say anything; he just smiled, handed us the cookies, and went back home. © Reflection_Secure / Reddit

“I have a job where I run up and down stairs and walk on concrete all day, but I’m not allowed to wear tennis shoes. I was telling a customer that I had been at work since noon, and I couldn’t wait to leave at 10 p.m. to go to Sonic and get a drink. Look what she brought me!”

• I took Ubers to chemo for 6 months. One driver, Marcus, always showed up. He’d chat, play music I liked, and never mention my bald head. On my last day, he wouldn’t let me pay. I insisted. He said, “Check your ride history.” I looked at my app and froze. He’d been refunding every ride for six months, $1,847 total. “My mom died of cancer alone because she couldn’t afford rides to treatment. She missed appointments and it spread. When you told me about your chemo, I made a promise: you’d never miss treatment because of money. I drove you for free and told the app there were cancellations. Uber never knew. My mom died because no one helped. You lived because someone did.”
• I was in fourth grade when my parents had my younger sister, so they were focused on the newborn. At school, I opened my paper bag and unwrapped the foil holding my sandwich. There was nothing inside. It was just two slices of dry white bread, and I was disappointed. My tablemates literally all chipped in various components and made me the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. I’ve been chasing that ham sandwich ever since, but I’m sure it was the gesture that I loved, not the sandwich itself. © I_Am_The_Grapevine / Reddit
• My neighbor Dave was a quiet old guy who mostly kept to himself and just waved from his porch when we happened to be outside at the same time. When my house caught fire last year, he ran in without thinking and dragged my two kids out before the firefighters even got there. He survived that night but died a week later in the hospital from smoke inhalation. At his funeral, a man introduced himself as his lawyer and asked if we could talk for a minute. He told me Dave had changed his will the day after the fire. He’d left a savings account in my kids’ names and his old Toyota, the one he was always washing on Sundays. It wasn’t some huge fortune, but it was enough that I just sat there staring at the numbers for a long time because it meant rent would be covered for a while and I wouldn’t have to panic about school supplies or winter clothes. There was also a short note, written shaky like his hands must have been really weak: “I was supposed to die alone in my sleep. Instead, I got to die a hero saving two children. That’s a better ending than I deserved. This is for the kids. They already did more for me than I ever did for anyone.” That was all. No big explanation. I still don’t really know what to do with the fact that someone who barely knew us gave my children more security than most people ever will. I think about him every time.

There’s something comforting about knowing these moments exist, scattered through everyday life. They don’t fix everything, but they soften things. If you feel like reading more moments like these, there’s another article waiting with even more real experiences that readers couldn’t keep to themselves.