HelpOthers.org: Anonymous Acts of Kindness

Get Well Bouquet On The Way

2008-08-20 14:01:22

Recently, I heard from a friend that a neighbor of mine is back in the hospital. She has Cystic Fibrosis and many times she has bleeding in the lungs and needs immediate medical treatments and support for several days. Since she is due home today.

I will be picking up a bright flower bouquet, vase, get well card and some light reading material to make her bed stay go quicker. I am thinking of enlisting a neighbor's son to drop it off, ring the doorbell and make sure someone is home to receive it because I do not want the flowers to wilt, die or freeze. He will have to promise not to disclose my identity and I am not going to sign the card.

I hope this is a BRIGHT spot of sunshine in her day and that the goodwill and well wishes assure her that others care and encourage her to rest and take care.

...

A Taxi Driver Who Proved Me Wrong

2008-08-19 14:56:53

Yesterday, when I was going back to home after finishing all my paper work at the college, I stopped a taxi to take me back home. The man seemed to be very nice and couldn't stop calling me "Son". I liked it but was a little bit surprised by this because I usually think that taxi drivers are not kind people.

When I reached my destination I was searching for the money in my pocket. I was having trouble finding the change. The man noticed and said, "It's ok son, if you don't have the money you can go." I was so shocked and responsed, "I do have money," then I gave it to him. When I got out of the taxi I was really Happy about this kind person. I wished him all the best of luck.

Sometimes we get the wrong idea about a group of people. But, after some time and after going through an experience like mine, you will really change your ideas.

...

Pano's Basement in Bosnia

2008-08-19 11:08:46

It was the early 1990s. During the bleak years of the Bosnian war, the Serbian Army surrounded the city seeking it's surrender and the expulsion of all non-Serbians. The residents, with a minimal volunteer and civilian militia, were unorganized but mounted a spectacularly brave defense.

From around the world, many people converged to help them. It was an almost magnetic pull to serve a valiant and vulnerable expression of our human experience. I was one amongst those who came.

Fueled by Hemingway and feeling much like the Spanish Civil War, international brigade volunteers were driving ambulances around town. And yet it was resident foreigners who were causing the most distress in their hurry to leave the besieged city. The strong passports allowed most to escape the darkest days, and to sojourn on the Dalmation coast filling their memoirs with a few notes, before going home.

A few of us, though, stayed during the siege. Most were brilliant and brave, some were plain stupid risk-takers.

Soon Serbs blockaded the city and locked it up for complete annihilation. Targeted bombings and indiscriminate shelling campaigns of mosques, synagogues and non-Christian faith buildings created much of the rubble. Residents were left without a way to commune and without even the comfort of shared worship and faith.

Morale was very low, but the philharmonic playing in the streets helped. Serbian shelling of the marketplace stopped that practice too. To top it off, the snipers were killing civilians with a preference for beautiful young women. The city was bleak and the lack of response from the international community provided little hope. Mass murders of surrendered civilians only compounded the suffering of weak and exhausted residents.

And then a group of Western volunteers assembled to do something. Because something had to be done.

We got together, and noodled over it for a while but there was no consensus. Nobody wanted the responsibility that comes with deviant action.

Then, one of us took a stance. A bold stance.

Pano Kroko, a young American working with Medicins San Frontieres, rented an old central city basement and put a bond in to buy the place in case the city fell. Rumors held that this basement had been used as a bank vault in the past, and hence was bombproof.

Initially, his ideas seemed far too radical for the rest of us. So we busied ourselves with the usual -- compiling reports, counting the dead, spreading the little goodwill left in the coffers of the UN. Yet, Pano kept at it like a busy social engineer. His hope was to turn this big, cold basement into a safe place for community. A multi-faith community, no less.

After single-handedly laboring to turn this bank vault into a haven for inner worship, Pano first offered it to a Muslim merchant and city center community for use. Fearfully, they rejected it.

Just as good seems to attract good, an illuminated, white-bearded Mufti came up to Pano. "I heard about your offer in the market. I'd like to lead the noon prayers and the Salah there." It was a big risk, certainly for Pano but also for Faroz Mufti. But he took it. And thirty of his bazaar friends joined, and invited others to join. Soon, this spiritual leader was leading prayers every Friday in the cold basement of a bank vault.

Difficult times demand difficult action. Mufti and Pano became friends and worked together to improve the space with floor coverings and paint.

But Pano didn't stop there. He extended an invitation to a Jewish Rabbi. Surprisingly, the Rabbi agreed to use the space for Saturday prayers. (And it was a good thing it was Saturdays because night curfew would have prevented Mincha prayers and Sabbath on Fridays).

Each group felt like they had exclusive use of the bomb vault for religious services, but the story got even better when Pano invited a Christian priest to preach Sunday service in the comfort and safety of this space. Tragically, in retaliation for the destruction of their mosques, Muslim fighters had blown up the local ancient Christian church with dynamite. So the Christian priest also sought safety for his flock and found a perfect haven in Pano's basement.

It was only after this spontaneous, clandestine inter-faith center, had been in existence for a few weeks, that Pano decided to make a bold, public statement to all residents who were using the basement:

"This is your space. You can do with it what you like, in safety and comfort. I will guarantee your being here in peace. I will guarantee this with my life, if need be. But you have to guarantee me that you will tolerate the faithful people of the book who come here to pray too, in different ways. You are leaves of the same tree of humanity and since you have found here, safety and comfort these last weeks, please continue to do so from now on knowing that by simply being here and worshiping freely, you are the first peace workers in the midst of chaos."

He got up and simply told them brazenly, maybe foolishly, that they could coexist....

Kindness 2 Miles Away from Home

2008-08-18 14:34:38

A few years ago when my daughter was about two years old, I went through a difficult time. My marriage was in trouble, I was pregnant and not particularly well and I didn't have much money. Looking back I think I was also a bit depressed but I had to get on with taking care of my daughter the best I could.

One day I thought I would take my daughter for a nice day out up at our allotment as she liked it up there, and I thought it was a nice, positive thing to do. I decided to walk because the bus was expensive, so it took us a long time to get there. When we finally got there, immediately my daughter began to cry. She was cold, she was thirsty, she wanted to go home. To be honest, I hadn't been thinking straight as I had not prepared properly. I didn't even have any money to buy a drink or to take the bus back home. I was so frustrated and cross with myself that my dream of a nice time had failed.

I started walking back home (it was nearly 2 miles), and my daughter would not stop crying. I felt so miserable and cross with myself and my life that I started crying too.

At that point a car pulled up and a gentleman offered us a lift. He took us home, and seemed really concerned -- he even offered me all his change! The kindness of this stranger to a stranger like me really made me feel a lot better. I never saw him again and I don't know who he is but he really helped me out that day, so I just want to say thank you.

...

Ms. Secret Smile

2008-08-18 14:23:40

Hello, You dont know me or do you? I cant tell you who I am so just call me Ms Secret Smile.

I have volunteered to send smile cards and I sent out my first batch this week. It was a challenge for me because I am not in the best finacial condition but I wanted to partake so badly. So I committed myself to send smile cards for as long as I can.

There was someone who stood out in my shipping list. The address was litterally around the corner from my home. I had an idea. I was going to give this person 20 of my own smile cards on top of the 10 she would receive from HelpOthers. I also gave a card to her explaining why I bought the cards personally and it was all wrapped up in a ribbon with a smile ballon waving in the air. I placed it in her mail box and rang bell the bell until someone opened the door. With speedy footsteps, I ran away from the home hoping to escape before they came out to look.

I have been smiling all night wondering what she thought.

...

Sharing Myself and a Ceasar Salad

2008-08-17 14:13:47

The other day I went to the city to get a present for a friend. Whilst I was wandering around getting lost, I noticed the homeless people sitting on the ground. It can't be nice sitting on the ground watching legs rush past. If I were in that situation what would I want? The attention of someone for more then a moment. For someone to look into my eyes and see a real person.

So I bought an extra large Ceasar salad and went looking for someone to give it to. I ran into a man selling the Big Issue- a magazine about current affairs in which the homeless seller gets half the profit. He placed down his book and jumped up to greet me. I gave him the Caesar salad and bought a copy of the magazine. He accepted it much more gracefully then most people with no customary 'oh I couldn't!'

He told me about his life-how he'd been unemployed for eight years, on the streets for two. How he wanted to be a bush regenerater because he liked trees better then people. He had this job because it was the only way to make an honest dollar without identification. So earnest, he was great. I had to go home then so he shook my hand and told me his name. I was grinning from ear to ear all the way home!!!

...

Puppy Therapy

2008-08-16 14:18:56

Just two days ago my brother brought home his 6 month old puppy to stay with me and my parents for a while. My mom thought it might be a good thing for me since because I don't get out a lot in the winter due to a disability, which makes me allergic to the cold.

It has helped me a lot because instead of being home alone now I have a dog to take care of and play with. I want to say thank you to everyone that trains dogs for therapy.

...