(I volunteer as a Scout leader. Our Cub Scout pack has several boys in it who live at a nearby residential school for kids with emotional and learning disabilities. Many are there because their parents have lost custody due to their inability to give these kids the help they need. When we first accepted these kids into the pack, we were a little concerned about how they would fit in with the ‘typical’ kids. One of the kids from the special school is going to be going back home to live with his parents, which is a huge deal. We give him a goodbye card and wish him luck. Unfortunately, he is back at the school a month later due to his loser-parents not doing their job. There is a pack event, and this kid shows up with the rest of the kids from the school. He is hanging in the back, looking a bit down when the rest of the den he had been in sees him.)

Scout #1: “[Kid]! You’re here!”

Scout #2: “We thought you left!”

Scout #1: “We need you for our team! Come on!”

(The kid burst into a huge smile and joined the others like he had never been away. 10- and 11-year-old boys can be a trial some days, but my Scouts gave this kid a better welcome than his own family, and his teacher said it was the first time he had smiled in about a week. The next generation of humanity is doing all right.)

(My husband and I are on a road trip with our 8-month-old daughter. We had planned to drive for a short time, find a restaurant for a late dinner, and then keep driving to the next city to get a hotel. We get caught up in a horrible traffic jam that takes over an hour to get through. By the time we are out of it, it is almost 10 pm. Luckily, our daughter is fine – she had slept for most of the time, and when she got hungry, I was able to give her a bottle and some snacks while my husband drove the car.)

Me: “Thank goodness we’re out of that traffic jam, but boy, I’m starving.”

Husband: “Me, too, but I’m not sure if anything is going to be open anymore.”

Me: “There’s a restaurant; the sign says “Open”, and I see people inside.”

Husband: “Hooray! We’re saved!”

(We got out of the car and started walking towards the restaurant. We were almost at the door when one of the employees, seeing us, flipped the sign to “Closed”.)

Employee: *through the door* “I’m really sorry, but it’s past closing time and our grill is shut down for the night.”

Husband: “Oh, dear! We were afraid of that.”

(We turn to leave. At that moment, my daughter wakes up in my arms and coos adorably at the employee.)

Employee: “Oh! You have a baby! We can’t turn you away with nothing to eat. Come on in!”

Me: “Really?”

Employee: “Sure! One thing, though; we can only serve you sandwiches, since our grill is closed.”

Husband: “That’s absolutely fine. Thank you so much!”

(We quickly ate a very decent meal of sandwiches and salad. We made sure we left a generous tip. Thank you, restaurant employee, for bending the rules and not sending us into the night hungry!)

(I am on an international flight going home from studying in Germany. I’m exhausted and stressed out by headaches at each air pressure change, when a baby starts wailing. This goes on for nearly an hour quite close to me, but then I hear a different voice.)

Woman: *to the mother* “You need some rest, dear. Do you want me to take your baby for a while?”

(I look up and see a nun in her full robe and habit. The mother quickly agrees.)

Nun: *to baby* “You just need to be walked a bit, don’t you? You’re so cute. Here, let’s give you a bounce and go see what’s on this end of the plane… then the other. I know you don’t like the air pressure changes either.”

(The baby soon stops crying, and the nun starts singing to it in Italian. She held it for the next two hours, even after it spat up on her habit!)

(I’m at the supermarket checkout, getting all of my stuff scanned. Behind me are the self-scanning checkouts. The place is fairly busy, and out of nowhere comes the scream of a newborn. Of course, everyone looks over to see what’s going on. There’s a woman, possibly in her late twenties, early thirties, all alone, trying to scan her groceries and calm the baby at the same time. The kid is having none of it. You can clearly see that this poor woman is trying to decide whether to calm the baby down now, or get the scanning done quickly so that she can comfort him longer. During this, the kid is screaming blue murder. Suddenly, I see the woman who was behind me in the line go over to the lady.)

Woman: “Hi, I was just over there with my husband and toddler, and, please tell me if I’m crossing the line, but would you like me to hold your baby for you?”

(Now, this woman is clearly very pregnant, as well as having a young son, so she’s obviously not only done this before, but has nothing but sympathy for the young woman in front of her.)

Young Mother: “Oh, wow, thank you so much. That would be great. I’m almost finished. I’m so sorry for the noise. It’s just I’m here alone, and—”

Woman: “It’s really okay, don’t worry about it. It’s tough with a newborn. You’re doing fine.”

(With this, the young mother picked up her newborn and handed him to the other woman. He stopped crying almost immediately, and his mother went to finish up with her scanning. During all of this, the other woman stayed close by, never going out of eye shot so that the new mum could always see where her child was. I was all done and out the door before I could see how it ended, but I thought it was lovely that a stranger would go out of their way to help a struggling mother. Kudos to you, wherever you are.)

(I work at a renaissance festival in a shop that mainly sells crowns and tiaras. Although we have a few items that are classified as unisex, the bulk of our customer base is female. It’s not uncommon for a family with a little boy to come into the shop and leave soon after telling their child that it’s a shop for girls only. I often will tell these people where the unisex crowns are, as they’re towards the back of the tiny shop and not always visible when you first walk in. A young couple walk in with a small boy, looking to be about five or so. They start to look around but generally seem uninterested in anything.)

Me: “Just to let you know, there are also some unisex crowns back here if the young lord would be interested.”

Mother: “Nah, I think he likes these ones with the ribbons.”

(The child grabs a tiara with ribbons and gems, the same that I actually happen to be wearing. Our displays are sorted by color and pink happens to be the bottom color as is the one he grabs.)

Me: *to the boy* “Those come in an assortment of colors, too, if you want.”

(He seems shy and just turns away from me and hands the tiara to his mother.)

Mother: “That’s okay, his favorite color is pink anyway. I guess we’ll get this one.”

(They pay and leave. It seems so silly, but having seen so many people practically drag their sons out of the shop because ‘crowns are for girls,’ it made me incredibly happy to see them respect their child’s likes.)