Category: Random Acts of Kindness

  • Kindness on the Bus

    Taking the bus recently, I’ve noticed a very positive bus culture. Passengers thank the driver as they leave, while drivers greet passengers and wait until they’re seated before starting to move the bus. Recently a young mother got on, with a small baby in a pram. She parked the pram in the wheelchair/pram section of […]

  • Patience at the supermarket

    Ute wrote in about how simple actions make a difference: In the shopping mall today, it was packed with people with gloomy faces pushing trolleys through the narrow aisles and if everybody would have insisted on having the first go nobody would have gone anywhere. So simply giving way and waiting a few seconds produced […]

  • Unexpected gift from a stranger

    This gem came in from Bryonie: I was the recipient of a random act of kindness the other day. My Fitbit strap broke on Friday night and as I need the watch part for work and I like to know my step count each day, I decided I would have to go and buy a […]

  • Gloves returned

    Many thanks to the young woman who ran after me when I accidentally left my favourite gloves on a park bench. They would have been sorely missed. Thank you for taking the trouble to notice and act. May strangers be just as kind to you.

  • Random Acts of Kindness

    On 1st September, New Zealand celebrates Random Acts of Kindness Day, a tradition started in 2005 by Josh de Jong and some friends. After witnessing a road rage incident, Josh thought how good it would be if people could be kind to strangers, even if only for one day of the year. The result was […]

  • A lovely library experience

    Ute from Ngaruawahia sent in this gem: “With all the things computerised, I loved the personal attention I got from our lovely library ladies when I was looking for a special book. They made me feel like a person and we joked and chatted also about stuff that was not related to my search. It’s […]

  • The gift of time

    Donna (not her real name) is unwell and facing a major operation. When the time comes, it will require several weeks off work to recover. Although Donna is a private person and has not made her situation public, someone in her workplace found out about it. This kind-hearted individual approached the HR department and asked […]

  • Another lost wallet returned

    Recently, while driving, flatmates Chantell and Gerri spotted a wallet lying in the middle of a busy road. They braved the traffic to rescue it, which included chasing paper money being blown down the street in the wind. The wallet contained a driver’s license, but no address. What to do? Luckily there was a hairdresser’s […]

  • An honest stranger

    Tony writes that he had just scrapped his car and got $200 cash for it. An hour later he couldn’t find the cash. He backtracked and asked at the Post Office, where the teller told him that an Indian lady had found it and handed it in to a shop across the road. Relieved to […]

  • Another Finder’s Kindness Story

    This morning a work colleague came around searching for her phone. She wasn’t sure whether she had left it at work, or placed it on top of her car before she drove away. We looked everywhere and I phoned her number, but to no avail. A couple of hours later she texted me to say […]