# How Many have You Recieved A Random Act of Kindness?



## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

We have all heard of those who do these things. So,... how many of you can share, with intimate details, the time YOU have received a random act of kindness of equal value? And WHY do you think, that it was or should be YOU who should receive that random act of kindness?


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## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

I have received random acts of kindness many times in my life. I have no desire to share the intimate details, but I can say that I didn't feel like I "deserved" them. They were given from the heart and had a huge impact on my life.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Not very long ago, I went into Subway to get a Sub that was on Sale… it ended up NOT to be on SALE… I was pissed and had to pick another type of Sub… Ended up with a Meat Ball Sub with the Works!

I went to pay… only to find out another customer Paid My Bill for me!
I Couldn't believe it!! A perfect stranger paid for our DINNER!
... He ducked out without a word… He didn't want me to know he had done it…

I must have really looked like I needed it bad… no shave for awhile, etc. ...

It was a Nice thing for him to do…


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## john111 (Dec 18, 2012)

I have had many bestowed upon me as well. They are usually out of left field and always seem to touch me to the core. Spiritual experiences all of them. I like when they show up just when I need them the most. One such time was when I was stuck in my truck last winter during a Rain/Snow storm. I stalled in a dip between the alley and the street. As I stepped out of the truck the water/slush pool was very near as deep as my knee. I had my wife and 4 year old in the truck with me. Out of the blue a guy pulls up behind me and gives me a push into a parking spot on a side street (that usually never has any spots) while I was on the phone to a friend who borrowed me his car for the weekend until I could get my truck fixed and back home. Horrible but touching just the same.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Thanks for the details Joe and John. IMO, true random acts of kindness SHOULD be that memorable. I am glad they clearly stood out in your memory as such. It does give humanity some hope in themselves.


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## exelectrician (Oct 3, 2011)

Picture this back in 1959, in Northern Rhodesia now (Zambia) . One night late, around 3:30am I am driving home in my Beetle and the engine just dies…. This is on a single lane road no buildings for miles behind or ahead and I am 45 miles from home… I get out and open the engine cover, just then a guy pulls up and asks what is wrong, without waiting for an answer he goes back to his car and returns with a tool / parts box, he asks me to try start the Beetle while he listens carefully to the sounds, Yep! it's your capacitor in the distributor that gone. He pulls one out of his box and puts it in, then he tells me to get in and try to start the engine - the Beetle fires up right away! 
Before I could get out to thank him from the bottom of my heart - he was gone, down the road taillights getting smaller and smaller..
I lie awake at night wondering just who he was…..


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

50 some years ago I got fired from a horrible job with an equal horrible boss.


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## jmartel (Jul 6, 2012)

Given and received several, most typically things like paying for the person behind you at the toll booth, or when you pay for your meal at a fast food place you give them an extra $20 and tell them to pay as many people's bills as you can with it, I've bought some food for some homeless (those that I know are actually homeless and not gaming the system) and sat down and chatted, etc.

I don't do it super often, but even now and then I will.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

OK Mike, what has happened to you that prompted this thread…

... or maybe I should say… What have you done to help make people feel good like this?

Your side of the thread?


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

I had a RAoK boomerang on me one Sunday morning. I had just come from church and spontaneously decided to breakfast at a local Mom and Pop restaurant. Sunday mornings are real real popular at this shop so there was a huge line. A family of four with two little girls who were really trying to be patient in the crowded and windy vestibule were in line behind me. My turn in line came and the server was going to seat me at a table for four ( there is only one of me and while I may have put on a bit o' weight over the winter I don't need four chairs LOL!) so I asked the server if she old seat the family of four who were in line behind me.. At first they protested but I assured them it made more sense for them to sit and get their little girls fed before their store of 'little kid' patience ran out  I eventually got a seat at a double table and enjoyed my breakfast. After a while the server came over to my table and told me that the couple had paid for my breakfast! It made an already delicious breakfast even sweeter. I love living in a little town.


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## Quanter50 (Feb 11, 2012)

Standing in line at the grocery store. Sounds pretty familiar right? The guy in front of me is paying up his total of over a hundred bucks plus twenty seven cents. He starts fishing around in his pocket looking for the 27 cents. I already had my hand in my pocket and was fiddling with my change patiently waiting for him to finish, so I brought out a quarter and two pennies and said "here ya go!" He looked at me and said "great…..but now I'll owe you 27 cents". I said "don't worry about it, pay it forward". The cashier just looked at me with a smile. The guy took the change, said thanks and paid his tab. Oh BTW, I never met this guy before. When it came my turn to pay our total (I was with my wife) the cashier said "That was nice what you did. I'm going to give you 5% off your total". Cool…..sounds good to me, thanks! That random act of kindness turned 27 cents into $4.24


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## S4S (Jan 22, 2011)

When I am driving down a particularly long and almost deserted stretch of lonely
highway….. and I see someone walking alone by the side of the road , .....I remember
when it was me… who was once wandering along on foot , miles from nowhere 
on this very road . I have to remind myself really hard not to run that person over with my car.
When they are safely in my rearview mirror , I realize I have done my part .

When a homeless person approaches me and asks for some money to buy some food ,
believe me , they are not fooling me at all . That's why I usually just hand them a 
crack rock .

When I am finished cleaning , and the tools are put away , and it's late at night , I sometimes
just wander out to the ally and wait for a random hobo that I can hit in the head with a mallet .
Hasn't happened yet , but one can look up at the stars and dream .

opps ! damn, I believe I misread the OP's topic , I'm presenting the wrong POV . I Must have gotten
it mixed up with some other Humanist threads that are popping up . What a blatant error on my part.
I should read more carefully before I answer next time . I blame the Educators for not teaching 'random
acts ' courses in our public schools .


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

"So,... how many of you can share, with intimate details, the time YOU have received a random act of kindness of equal value?"

Of equal value to what?


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## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

Ive been burned so many times in the last couple years after helping numerous people and so called friends.Now i turn my head and no longer help the majority of people i cant afford to be a door mat.

I put so much effort into helping others with no return at all I gave up already find someone else to help.


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## TravisH (Feb 6, 2013)

I can't think of too many times I have been on the receiving end to be honest. I had a member of a forum send me a box of paulownia for some crank baits, a guy I was a moderator with on a fishing forum sent me a few hundred dollars of fishing lures, and a coworker sold me some ash, hickory, and red oak for cheap.


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

While rolling a cig in the smoking area outside the mall, a young fella offered me two tailor-mades. I was momentarily lost for words. I had come right from the shed and was in a bad need of a shave. " He thinks I'm a derelict!", I thought. I thanked him and explained I prefer rollies.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

After Katrina, A person who I never met sent me $500 to help any loss I may have had. That person was a friend of my brother-in-law and wanted to help someone directly rather than donate to some agency. Another time, I was at the side of the road with a flat tire and no spare. A man came along and asked if he could assist me. I told him I had no spare and he voluntered to drive me to a service station. He did so, but the tire was no good. He then took me to a tire store where I bought another tire. He then drove me back to my car and put the tire on for me. All of this took around an hour and a half of his time. I offered to pay him for his time, but he refused. Everytime I think the world is hopeless, I remember that person's act of kindness and realize there is hope for humanity. I have several times bought a meal at a fast food restaurant and given it to some person hitch-hiking and looking needy.


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## Phil53 (Jun 25, 2008)

This "random act of kindness" was started many years ago when a man die on a cross for me and saved me from a place the Bible calls Hell. All I had to do is accept by faith His payment and I did 20 years ago. It has changed my life and has given me a peace I had never known before. His name is Jesus and He did the same for you and everyone else that will accept Him.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

With all due respect Phil, that man also threw a deer in front of my motorcycle breaking 5-ribs and pulled a 20ft ladder out from under me breaking another 23-ribs/vertebrae, ALL within the last decade.

I do not think that either of us ever met that man in person. I just would like to know why that Hispanic man that you name keeps trying to kill me? I really do not appreciate his assaults on my health and well being. Not a joke, serious.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I would like to follow up on the above by saying that a random act of kindness is a physical/actual event that has taken place. A camera in the same location could and would record the event as it occurred. Those things happen. As opposed to opinions, and we ALL know how those go…


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## Buckethead (Apr 14, 2013)

Well… There was this one time… I was at a food and beverage festival, and a fight broke out. Being a peaceful person, I went to try to break it up. Little did I know, the police had been called for that exact purpose. When they arrived moments later, they mistook me for a participant in the fight, and proceeded to beat me senselessly.

Then, right as I was nearing death, they stopped, handcuffed me (for my own protection) and threw me into the back of their car.

Just like that. They stopped beating me. No particular reason, but that selfless act of generosity remains in my memory to this day. Heroes.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Buckethead,
Me too! The only thing different was that the bar fight, two big guys beating up a long-haired, were that the two "big guys" were actually off duty cops out to "clean up" the bar. I tried to pull one of them off the guy being pummeled. I guess THAT was my random act of kindness, at least to the guy being pummeled.

I found myself with a broken nose under the pinball machine nursing my wounds until the ON-DUTY cops came.

At least I got to testify against same two months later, though I had to drive +200mi. to do so. It was nice to see "police as defendants" if you know what I mean. *;-)*


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Mine is really way too long to type it all out…. Years ago I had scrimped, saved, e-bayed, and traded till I had enough to buy myself a (used) motorcycle. Shortly thereafter our oldest daughter developed some SERIOUS medical issues. She started having seizures, passing out and migraine headaches so severe that caused blindness and sometimes paralysis. At the time I was quite active on a motorcycle internet chatroom, and I mentioned that the stator had crapped out on my old GoldWing. We were pretty much in dire straits financially and I figured I'd have to sell the bike or push it to the back of the garage and let it sit for a year or two.

One of the other guys on the chat offered to come to my house (500 miles from his) and fix my bike for free if I could get ahold of the parts. Several others jumped in and said they'd "chip in" to pay for the needed parts and cover his gas for the trip. We tried to protest but this thing took off like wildfire. And before we knew it, we had people we didn't know sending us checks and even cash in the mail.

Long story short, We have now been VERY GOOD FRIENDS with a couple hundred people (most of whom we STILL have never met in person) for almost 20 years.

BECAUSE of this kind deed, we started a group calling us the "PIFFERS" ("Paying It Forward" after the movie of the same name) and we've anonymously helped a bunch of folks over the years. We raise funds during the year and gather each year at a different part of the country and who ever is Hosting it that year has found us some deserving soul that we surprise visit and hand them several fistfuls of cash. We tell them no strings attached, and that the only thing we want in return is "When they can and are able, they are to help some stranger and pay the favor forward".

One year, we raised almost 13grand in less than 6 weeks and bought a guy a motorcycle to replace the one he sold to pay his wife's medical bills.

So you see, one small offer to ride 500 miles and help a guy fix a broken motorcycle has been Paid Forward in SO MANY WAYS that we could never estimate how many folks or how many favors have been paid forward.

This is only ONE of the times my family has been "Paid Forward" to …. and I'm one of those guys that feels I could NEVER "Pay It Forward" enough to cover the debt of gratitude I owe.


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## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

What an amazing story Joe. Thank you for sharing it. It goes a long way in restoring faith in humanity.


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## Buckethead (Apr 14, 2013)

Yeah… That's a good one, Joe.

It's always fun to give the bikers a ration of you know what, but truthfully, I find that old bikers are among the nicest, most generous people on the planet.


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## rustfever (May 3, 2009)

Once upon a time, wife of 20 years and I stood in line for the last room in a hotel. Behind us was a couple that had married just hours before. Need less to say, we went to a much less comfortable hotel with warm hearts.


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## Phil53 (Jun 25, 2008)

HorizontalMike
I'm not trying to get into an argument but you and I are not talking about the same man. The Jesus I know is not Hispanic but Jewish, and He would never do these things to you. He is not a God of hate but of love. Satan is the one that wants to hurt us not God.

To blame God for the bad things that happen to us would be like watching me stabbing a hole in your motorcycle tire and you blaming your best friend.

I have never physically met Him but I do have a personal relationship with Him. He has been closer than a brother (blood or biker). He has never let me down or knocked me down but if I ever fall down He's there to pick me up.

I'll let this go but if you would like to seriously talk more let me know.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

*Phil: "...I'll let this go but if you would like to seriously talk more let me know…."*

Apparently you did NOT let this go. My OP was about "Random acts of kindness" and YOU brought religion into this.

*JUST from the "New" Testament book of Revelation*

"I [Jesus] will kill her children with death." 2:23

"Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." God created parasites, pathogens, and predators for his very own pleasure. One of his favorite species is guinea worms. 4:11

"Thou art worthy … for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." 5:9

God gives someone on a white horse a bow and sends him out to conquer people. 6:2

God gave power to someone on a red horse "to take from the earth … that they should kill one another." 6:4

God tells Death and Hell to kill one quarter of the earth's population with the sword, starvation, and "with the beasts of the earth." 6:8

The martyrs just can't wait until everyone else is slaughtered. God gives them a white robe and tells them to wait until he's done with his killing spree. 6:10-11

God tells his murderous angels to "hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of your God on their foreheads." This verse is one that Christians like to use to show God's loving concern for the environment. But the previous verse (7:2) makes it clear that it was their God-given job to "hurt the earth and the sea" just as soon as they finished their forehead marking job. 7:3

144,000 Jews will be going to heaven; everyone else is going to hell. 7:4

Those that survive the great tribulation will get to wash their clothes in the blood of the lamb. 7:14

God sends his angels to destroy a third part of all the trees, grass, sea creature, mountains, sun, moon, starts, and water. 8:7-13

"Many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." 8:11

The angels are instructed not to "hurt the grass [how could they? He already had all the grass killed in 8:7] ... but only those men which have not the seal of God on their foreheads." God tells his angels not to kill them, but rather torment them with scorpions for five months. Those tormented will want to die, but God won't let them. 9:4-6

God makes some horse-like locusts with human heads, women's hair, lion's teeth, and scorpion's tails. They sting people and hurt them for five months. 9:7-10

Four angels, with an army of 200 million, killed a third of the earth's population. 9:15-19

Anyone that messes with God's two olive trees and two candlesticks (God's witnesses) will be burned to death by fire that comes out of their mouths. 11:3-5

God's witnesses have special powers. They can shut up heaven so that it cannot rain, turn rivers into blood, and smite the earth with plagues "as often as they will." 11:6

After God's witnesses "have finished their testimony," they are killed in a war with a beast from a bottomless pit. 11:7

The bodies of God's witnesses will lie unburied for three and a half days. People will "rejoice over them and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another." After another three and half days God brings his witnesses back to life and they ascend into heaven. 11:8-12

When the witnesses ascend into heaven, an earthquake kills 7000 men. This was the second woe. "The third woe cometh quickly." 11:13-14

"The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" 
God planned to kill Jesus before he created the world. 13:8

Those who receive the mark of the beast will "drink of the wine of the wrath of God … and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone … and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." 14:10-11

Jesus sits on a white cloud with a sharp sickle in his hand. When the angel tells him to reap, he kills all the people with his sickle. 14:14-18

"The great winepress of the wrath of God … was trodden … and the blood cam out of the winepress, even unto the horses bridles." 14:19-20

Seven angels with seven plagues are filled with the wrath of God. 15:1, 7

The seven vials of wrath: 1) sores, 2) sea turned to blood, 3) rivers turned to blood, 4) people scorched with fire, 5) people gnaw their tongues in pain, 6) Euphrates dries up, 7) thunder, lightning, earthquake, and hail. 16:1

"There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast." 16:2

"The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." 16:3

"The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood." 16:4

God gave the saints and prophets blood to drink. 16:6

Another angel tells God how righteous he is because he gives saints blood to drink. 16:7

"Power was given unto him [the fourth angel] to scorch men with fire." 16:8

Those who were being burned to death by God didn't repent "to give him glory." 16:9

"The fifth angel poured out his vial … and they gnawed their tongues for pain." 16:10

Even after being burned alive, those nasty people wouldn't repent! 16:11

Christians will fight in the war between Jesus and those allied with the beast. 17:14

"They shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire." (Are they going to eat her first and then burn her?) 17:16-17

To punish her God will send plagues and famine, and "she will be utterly burned with fire." 18:8

God will send plagues, death, and famine on Babylon, and the kings "who have committed fornication with her" will be sad to see her burn. 18:8-9

Jesus makes war. 19:11

Jesus' clothes are dipped in blood and his secret name ("that no man knew") is "The Word of God". (I bet you thought it was Jesus!) 19:13

With eyes aflame, many crowns on his head, clothes dripping with blood, a sword sticking out of his mouth, and a secret name, Jesus leads the faithful in heaven into holy war on earth. 19:14-15

"Come … unto the supper of the great God." An angel calls all the fowls to feast upon the flesh of dead horses and human bodies, "both free and bond, both small and great." 19:17-18

The beast and the false prophet are cast alive into a lake of fire. The rest were killed with the sword of Jesus. "And all the fowls were filled with their flesh." 19:20-21

God will send fire from heaven to devour people. And the devil will be tormented "day and night for ever and ever." 20:9-10

Whoever isn't found listed in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. 20:15

All liars, as well as those who are fearful or unbelieving, will be cast into "the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." 21:8


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Joe Lyddon, that's a trend going around, it's called paying it forward, a selfless act, and from what I understand you're supposed to pass it on.

This also happened to me while in a drive through at Whataburger, my meal was paid for me, it wasn't long after I paid it forward, it's called an act of kindness that deservers no reward and I did pass it on at another time.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Yeah Randy, we could use more of that for sure.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Phil53 +1


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Something monumental as others have stated in their stories I can't think of any that had a life changing effect on my life as for as some act done for me at least not that I can think of right now, but I've done my share of helping and offerings, a couple years ago as I rounded a corner driving I witnessed an elderly (80s) couple at a gas station trying to put air in their tire, after seeing this I made a beeline into the parking lot, the elderly man with a cane in his hand wasn't able to bend over nor was the elderly lady that remained seated in the car, I got of my truck asked the man if I could help and of course they both were very appreciative.


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

This last comment of mine had no positive bearing on the thread so I removed it.


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## emrhappy (Aug 12, 2012)

Blackie_… you should have asked them where the heck they were going and got them out from behind the wheel of a car!! lol…


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## bbrewer (Dec 28, 2012)

I've worked in farming, construction and taught construction for 34 years. I've helped a lot of people through the years. At one point we, wife and I, built our own house.

When we were building I figured there would be struggles and really didn't expect help from others. That's is where the RAK came in. When we were going to set 46 trusses some 42' long at 8/12 it seemed like people I had helped over the years came out of the woodwork. I have no idea how most knew we were going to set the trusses those two days.

Some were far too old to help, but they cut straps moved scraps etc. Some people plated food for others so we could get a bite to eat and keep working. Having been a construction teacher many past students and others I'd worked with were able to help setting up the truss system.

Those are things I think of every time I come home.


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