Have you experienced any kind, selfless acts that will cheer us all up and restore faith in human nature?

Question

Acts of kindness are not the perogative of Christians, so to EVERYONE on the R & S site, can we hear about some act of kindness, selflessness, sacrifice or love you have shown or experienced that will cheer us all up?

Ken Sisk - you're absolutely right, and thank you for correcting me. Yes, I did mean to say "Acts of kindness are not the perogative of Christians ONLY"

Wow! Some fantastic answers here! It's going to be hard to chose. I have been so moved by some of your stories - thank you to everyone for sharing and cheering us all up. Oh, and I have not given a single thumbs down to anyone. We are all entitled to our opinions and we can all learn from each other.

Answer 1

I was in a van with 5 other people. we (the passengers) were all asleep, when the driver fell asleep at the wheel. The van went into a canal that was full of water. I woke up as the van filled with water and started getting everyone out. By the time it was my turn, something under the water was blocking the two door windows and I was trapped. I was drowning. I couldn't get out and I wasn't able to kick out the wind shield, so I figured it was my time.
I was losing consciousness when somebody opened the rear doors and pulled me out . I got back onto the dry ground and one of the girls asked if I'd seen her sister. Looking around I didn't see her, so I jumped back inti the water, and dove into the rear door of the sunken van. It seemed like forever, but I found her and dragged her out of the canal.
She wasn't breathing so I started CPR. Just as I got her breathing, the ambulances got there.
A week before I'd been in another accident. I had one arm in a cast, and three broken ribs.
Someone pulled me from the van and I never found out who it was. If I wouldn't have gotten out of the van the other girl would have drowned with me. As it turned out, someone saved me so I could save another. Funny old world ...isn't it?

Answer 2

Well it's hard to identify purely selfless acts because many people get joy out of doing otherwise selfless acts, and isn't it a little selfish if you have joy?

But, if joy is okay to have, then here are a few.

I just adopted an adorable dachshund puppy. What gets me is that she was saved from a clinic that was going to euthanize her... she was not a trouble dog or sick or anything, but they were going to put her down! I am so glad that she was saved because I was able to adopt her and she is so much fun!

The other day on Yahoo! Answers someone was looking for Electrical Engineers to help answer some interview questions for a paper he was writing. I am not an electrical engineer but I am an engineer, so I answered as best as I could. He wrote me back a very kind note just to say thank you. It gave me the warm and fuzzies!

Answer 3

35 years ago I was in our country cottage cleaning. I knocked a radiator base too hard and boiling hot water started pouring on to the floor. The coal fire was burning, heating the water, I had no telephone and didn't know how to turn the water mains off. I ran into the country road, waving down the first car. A man and his Dad pulled in and although they were going to the airport to collect family, they helped. In the boot the man had a big bag of tools (!) including industrial gloves, and a mobile phone. This was when the first cordless phones were invented (great big things - very expensive). He phoned my husband after he'd fixed a hose pipe to the radiator (and got the water draining outside) and told me how to empty the fire. Then he set back off to the airport. I was so stunned at his help and practicality, I could hardly speak.

Later, we had a chap call at the cottage, needing petrol (gas) for his car. We gave him some that was in a can in our garage, so he got to the next petrol station. Days later, an ice cream van pulled up, this chap got out and gave us a big tub of ice cream!

Answer 4

This is better. Nice and two-sided. Thank you.

Yes, I can share an experience. I am very poor, and once I had to let a specific debt go very, very past due, over a year in fact. It was over a motor I had to put into a car in order to be able to keep working. I called the guy who put the new motor in two years later when I realized what I'd done to make things right, and he said "Don't worry about it. Let it go". He said he didn't want the money, it was past and done now.

I am Pagan. He is Christian. *That's* what I'm talkin' about for a prime example of restored human nature. I've made a personal promise to do the same for someone else who really needs it when I can.

Answer 5

You ask the kind of questions human beings ask whilst they want an excuse to be undesirable. enable's seem at IQ, ok. you detect out you have a great IQ. in case you have been a seeker and utilising your ideas properly earlier, the certainty would not substitute something. in case you weren't, you grow to be proud and lazy. the kind of person (good or undesirable) : in case you're good and attempting to be greater helpful, you detect out that's existence adventure. So what ? You proceed. .. yet human nature , that anwer provides an excuse to your vices and drag on your motivationi, and a greater subject to handle whilst and in case you make certain to strengthen. So, forget approximately the question. Are you good ? Are you attempting to be greater helpful ? Then in simple terms shop going. the place nature is the impediment, it is going to cut back, and the place existence adventure is, you will already be doing what you may.

Answer 6

I spent 4 months in Baghdad Iraq working wiht Iraqi Air Force. Everyday those guys committ selfless acts. At least 1 day a week Iraqi military soildiers and American both died by acts of terrorism. There are some good people in Iraq. I made some great Iraqi friends. Yes they are Muslims and I do not agree with Islam but we were able to put religious differences aside and be true brothers in arms.

Answer 7

My car needed a brake job, so I called a mechanic who goes to the same church I do. When I couldn't get to the shop before closing, he told me if I'd buy the parts he'd have one of his employees come in on Saturday morning to take care of it & I'd be billed later for the labor. Normally the shop is closed on Saturday, but the man met me there & repaired/installed, etc. The next time I saw the mechanic @ church I asked him how much I owed for the labor & he said he hadn't had time to figure up the bill & that he would give me the bill later. It's been nearly a year & he hasn't billed me yet---we see each other twice a week @ church.

Answer 8

Recently I was without a car for most of a week. I could always walk to our family store myself, but my dad's not in good enough health to walk. Besides, I had to get to the bank, the dairy, and the grocery supplier on errands for the business. Our budget wouldn't stand taxis, and we were contemplating the bus routes --(which would involve two buses and a transfer, turning a ten-minute drive into an hour-and-fifteen-minute bus trip.)

Just when I was slogging through the snow on a 45-minute walk to the bank, feeling really disgruntled, someone I knew only slightly pulled up in a car, and said, "Why you walkin' on such a rotten day?" I explained, and this person kindly offered rides to both me and my dad for whenever we needed them, as long as my car was in the garage. After one day, when word of this situation spread among our various other acquaintances, they all jumped into the breach, and we had rides all week, without having to bother any single person more than twice.

None of these people were close friends or relatives. They were just people from around the neighborhood, people we say "hello" to, but not much more than that. They said they were just helping us out and being good neighbors to us, because we'd been good neighbors to them at different times, for things we barely remembered doing.

Anyway, we were amazed at the way mere casual acquaintances went out of their way to turn a really inconvenient week into a week full of kindness.

Answer 9

Bite your tongue, woman!
You said.."Acts of kindness are not the perogative of Christians."

or, did you mean "Acts of kindness are not the perogotive of Christians ONLY"?? :)

EDIT:

Thanks for the clarifiction...:)

I lost faith in human nature a long time ago. what I haven't lost faith in is the Good Lord's ability to motivate people. It is because of Him that any of us ever do the right thing or acts of kindness.

I usually appreciate the simplest things..someone offering me a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, or someone offering to lend a hand putting up equipment. This is a rare experience for most truck drivers; but, really puts the day off to a good start, when it happens.

We (wife and I) gave some money a year or so ago to a single mom (was getting divorced due to husbands infidelity and the fact he was kicking her out) and her son so that they could have a deposit for a new apartment. My wife helped her move in get settled.

What really surprised me (we've helped people out before)
is that this year, when she got her income tax return, she insisted on paying us back. That's the first time that had ever happened. Most people really appreciate help; but, I was amazed that she volunteered (we had given it as a gift) and
insisted on returning the favor..it really came with no warning...and helped us at the perfect time, to pay our own taxes (self employed) by the deadline.

Answer 10

I used to work in a bar and this young couple were having a meal, when they left and I cleared their table I realised they had dropped £10 on their seat. I actually chased them down the street to give it them back. That was pretty selfless. I could've pocketed it, not got a sweat on, bought myself something pretty and not have got a bit of ear ache from the other staff about leaving the premises for all of 5 minutes while I ran down the street after them.

I did used to burn ants with a magnifying glass when I was younger tho so I guess I just evened it out a bit!