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Kindness

Kindness

How can we be kind to each other, to other creatures, and to the world?

2298 members
Posted byalivelystoryin/kindness-May 07, 2016 at 8:02 AMΔ

Kind people

  • Random Acts of Kindness
  • Stories
  • Compassion
  • Kindness

Do any of you have a person whose kindness has had a big impact on your life? :)

Comments15
  • weffeyMay 07, 2016 at 10:35 AMΔ

    I'm going to name drop @JimCassidy here.

    I was incredibly fortunate to work with him in one of my first jobs out of college, and showed me many things that a great developer can do, both in and out of code. Even after we parted ways professionally, he was there to set me up whenever I moved onto the next adventure in my career. When I've hit struggles, he's been there to listen to be vent and share words support, and at times, the brutal honesty I needed to hear.

    Some day, hopefully soon, I'll come home against and we will grab coffee or dinner and it will be as if I didn't up and move away all those years ago.

    • alivelystoryMay 07, 2016 at 11:44 AM

      That's so great! I bet he'd love to see you again, however long it has been :)

    • ifindkarmaMay 07, 2016 at 4:57 PM

      You're very lucky to have Jim in your life, weffey.

      We all need someone like that in our lives.

      I hope Jim visits us here on Imzy.

    • JimCassidyJun 30, 2016 at 1:29 AMΔ

      Weffy! You impressed me 11 years ago, and I told my wife then that I did not not think you would be staying in Ottawa. I told her that I saw a future for you working for interesting companies and doing interesting things.

      It has been deeply rewarding to follow the adventure that has been your career. And, it was moving for me to find this post. It made me feel all warm and tingly.

      • weffeyJun 30, 2016 at 2:42 AM

        😻

  • alivelystoryMay 07, 2016 at 11:49 AMΔ

    The person I was thinking of was a nurse in the hospital where I recuperated after surgery. I woke up at 3 AM and was scared, and she sat with me for over an hour and just chatted about life. She printed out information that helped me feel less scared. She kept coming back to check on me whenever her call light wasn't going off. It was so amazing. Not many people were up and she probably could have been chilling with some coffee in the break room, but she was there for me. I'll always remember her :)

    • ifindkarmaMay 07, 2016 at 4:27 PMΔ

      That's a wonderful act of compassion from someone whose name you don't even know!

      Goes to show you how interconnected we all are that people we don't know can affect us so much!

      • alivelystoryMay 07, 2016 at 4:49 PMΔ

        Yes :) I didn't know her for more than her shift-- but luckily she did have a nametag! I was able to send her a thank-you note! I hope so much that it got to her and made her feel valued :)

      • ifindkarmaMay 07, 2016 at 4:58 PMΔ

        I hope so too.

        I never know whether to follow up when I don't hear back from someone after writing a note like that.

      • alivelystoryMay 07, 2016 at 6:11 PMΔ

        I think I will, maybe every Christmas as it was around then

      • ifindkarmaMay 07, 2016 at 7:50 PM

        That's a great thing to celebrate / send a card for every year!

  • ifindkarmaMay 07, 2016 at 9:38 AM

    There's a Wharton professor named Adam Grant who wrote a book called Give and Take: http://giveandtake.com/

    He talks about the business benefits to being a giver, of which there are many.

  • AspenLovesYouMay 07, 2016 at 10:08 AMΔ

    I used to get bullied a LOT. At home my parents didn't teach me the proper social skills because they were too busy drinking and working. Not at the same time, mind you, because this wasn't the era of mad men. But one was drinking always and one was working always, and I was pretty much left to fend for myself.

    It didn't work out for me very well, and I had no concept of fashion, hygiene, style, social skills, or any of that. Some people suspect I had/have mild autism, but it's hard to say if it's autism or the natural effect of being largely ignored at home and bullied and ostracized at school. When I say I had zero friends, I actually mean I had zero friends.

    So, enter my sixth grade teacher. She was so pretty, and get this her name was Miss Fox. She was cool. Everyone loved her. She dressed perfectly, her hair was always stylish, she had a beautiful face. She looked like "snow white" as portrayed in "Once Upon a Time" the tv show. So, what's weird was that she was probably the coolest person in the entire school, because not only was she awesome but she was an adult. You know, she could drink or smoke if she wanted to - I bet she didn't.

    So you know, my brain assumes, this is the coolest person I've ever seen in real life, she will hate me the most. I was eleven, so, remember that.

    There was this parent-teacher meeting or something. You know, a parent goes to school to meet the new homeroom teacher. Everyone had to go to these one on one things. My mom comes in kind of stumbling and covered in jewelry and just generally apathetic. Think of Roald Dahl's Matilda's mother a little older, but with a much uglier and less magical child.

    Miss Fox, the coolest person in the school, sort of looked at her and looked at me and it was like, I know my social skills are bad, but I swear I could tell that in that one moment she understood everything that was wrong. So after this initial meeting early in the year she kept standing up for me, time and again. Usually teachers just let it happen, but Miss Fox never let it happen under her watch.

    I still didn't really have any friends, but for the entire year I knew I had someone on my side. Someone had my back. I literally never had the feeling of someone having my back before in my life. Once I was crying somewhere in the school because a group of kids did something to me at lunch. She found me and comforted me and told me that I was a good person.

    So I know this sounds weird but I kind of have to credit my sixth grade homeroom teacher for helping me survive school, and basically the rest of my life. Because, the coolest person I've ever met in real life, thought I was a good person, and thought I was worthy enough to protect and comfort.

    • alivelystoryMay 07, 2016 at 11:47 AM

      That's such an amazing story. I always wish that for those kids of people, you could somehow reach out to them years later and tell them just how much it meant. It means so much when just a single person reaches out like that to see your worth!

    • ifindkarmaMay 07, 2016 at 4:59 PM

      That sounds like a wonderful teacher!

      I'm glad you don't get bullied anymore.

      Thank you for sharing your story here, Aspen.

Kindness

Kindness

How can we be kind to each other, to other creatures, and to the world?

2298 members
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