There's snow on the ground and the sentimental season is upon us. Whatever your beliefs and creed, you might have experienced the unexpected kindness of a stranger in the past.

Please share with us and brighten up an otherwise grey and wet day.

Too bad there's no thanks button for that post otherwise you would have gotten one. It's so easy to get lost in our own issues and forget about the importance of kindness to strangers, a reminder is always welcome.

Thank you, Alaind. Appreciate the thought.

When I was working for a newspaper in Malaysia, I went to my jalopy after work and found that one of its tyres was flat. One of the printing workers came by and changed the tyre for me (I knew the theory of it but had never done it before) and wouldn't take money for his trouble. I thanked him profusely for it. What could I do but pass on the kindness to someone else when I next saw a chance?

When i first started to drive i was driving to work and got a flat tyre it was early in the morning cold and raing hard, i had no idea how to change a tyre so i put my hazard lights on, and stood beside my car, within about 2 minutes a car pulled over a man got out and asked me if i was ok i told him about my tyre, and he took his jacket off (he was wearing a suit) and changed my tyre.

When i told my dad later that day he got my then boyfriend to teach me how to change a tyre, so if anybody else is in the same situation as i was, i can now also help them

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Smile it is another day

Dear Sutter, do you have a 24-hour hotline I can call?

No sorry i killed my phone so i can`t get any more annoying phone calls sorry.

Have you done your Mitzvah for the day?

What is a Mitzah please

Ok don`t know if i should post this here or in my other thread embarrassing moments as an adult, so i guess i will post it here, because a stranger did help me.
When i had my knee operated last year i wanted to have some fresh air (my room was stuffy with other people in it) so a nurse brought me a wheelchair which had a plank of wood on to keep my leg straight, so i could go downstairs and outside well to get outside you had to go through a revolving door. I entered the door, but could not get out as i didn`t really know how to control the wheelchair, and then a kind man jumped into the revolving door, and pushed me outside to safety.

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Smile it is another day

According to Wiki (my good friend), a Mitzvah is a good deed (like burying a body) for a stranger for which you'll never be thanked because he/she is pretty dead.



Oooo... to think that you could still be stuck in there without Internet access if he hadn't lent a hand.
You win the prize for hitting two or three threads with one post, Madame Sutter.

When we were on our honeymoon in Australia long, long ago, we had rented a VW-Bus (to sleep in), and were travelling up from Perth through Western Australia via Newman to Port Hedland. My husband's a geographer so he wanted to visit Newman, one of the largest iron-ore mines on the continent. We arrived there on a Friday afternoon at around 3 p.m., just after the last guided tour of the mine had left. Obviously, he was extremely disappointed. A man who worked at the mine saw us standing slightly lost at the entrance gates and offered us: to come over to his place for dinner with his family, to park our van in his garden overnight, to take a much-needed shower in their bathroom, to take us on a personal guided tour of the mine at night "after hours" (fantastic views with all the lights).
We were gobsmacked! The friendliness, generosity, kindness and general "uncomplicatedness" shown to us was superb

Wow, what hospitality. People who find joy and pleasure in making other people feel comfortable and happy. Thanks for the great anecdote, Moepp.

Thanks argus (i miss the thanks button hint hint mods) oh goodie what is my prize

Homemade three-choc chip cookies or orange muffins -- your pick if you ever have coffee with SwissOtter and me.

Oh yummy thanks, i will be meeting swissotter next saturday, will you be there aswell for the fish and chips night.

My daughters friends mum as just been very kind to me because we had plans to go out tonight (a friend of ours is having a birthday bash and then followed by going onto a concert) and my babysitter as cancelled last minute and she was supposed to take them trick or treating (yesterday and today i have been making trick or treat things to put there sweets in, also for my daughters friend), so my daughter told me that she could go with her friend trick or treating and rang her friend to say it was ok, she then told my friend that the babysitter was not coming, anyway to cut a long story short she said my 2 kiddies can sleep over at her place even though she as visitors and 3 children of her own. She is such a star, and will be getting the biggest bunch of flowers i can find tomorrow

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Smile it is another day

good post, virtual thanks. will edit this post when i think of my anecdote.

I've had a period when I was utterly confused about boys. So after some lenghty disussions with a few friends about all this, I walked away angry. It was already late in the evening. I walked home, fast, crying very hard. I couldn't care less whether anyone saw it or not. Then suddenly a man walked towards me and he started to throw up his hands and begun: " Mamma mia ..." adding all sorts of words in Italian, he was obviously shocked to see a girl in that state. I continued my way but suddenly had to laugh so hard at his funny Italian way of reacting. I felt much better afterwards. I still remember it. I believe he saved me from going out of my mind that evening !!!

Sada, now I know you're a girl.

And, you know, you're right - when we're confronted with a reaction that's kind of out of our culture, it can make us do a doubletake and forget about our troubles.

Many years ago, I was the last visitor at a castle in Malmo, Sweden. A curator took it upon himself to show me around. He took me up to the turrets and explained how in the old days the soldiers used to shoot cannon balls out of the towers and battlements. And then to the banquet hall where the 'toilet' cubicles were merely recesses in the walls, and then down to the dungeons and he explained how prisoners were kept there, etc. Very interesting.

All the time at the back of my mind was, "If he were a psychotic killer, they'd never find my body in this castle." But here I am, lived to tell the tale. A kind stranger who made my brief visit to Malmo so much more fascinating and memorable.