(When I am seven and a half months pregnant, my husband passes away suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition. I have no other family, just some close friends. Things have been tough emotionally and financially. Christmas Eve, I’m buying just essentials — nappies, formula, bread, etc. — but nothing you would class as festive. While waiting in a very long line at the checkout, my six-month-old daughter starts to fuss. A guy in his 50s is behind me and starts making funny faces, causing my daughter to stop crying and laugh, instead. As we get near to the belt, he turns to the lady behind him and says he forgot something and asks if he can run to grab it. She agrees to hold his spot in line. He comes back with a gift card and a box of chocolates in addition to the groceries already in his basket. Once I’m ready to pay, he steps forward.)

Gentleman: “Wait. Please add my things and put $100 on the gift card. I’ll pay for it.”

Me: “Thank you, sir, but that’s okay.”

Gentleman: “Please, I’d like to. Call it an early Christmas present.”

(The cashier rings up his things, as well. The total comes close to $250, with my stuff close to $100. I’m now in tears.)

Me: “Thank you so much. I’ve had a really hard year and this means everything to me. I don’t know how to thank you.”

(He takes out the box of chocolates and gift card and hands them to me, as well.)

Gentleman: “The world could do with more kindness. Not enough people care about others. Take these and enjoy your Christmas with your gorgeous daughter. Things will get better. Merry Christmas, and I hope 2019 is a better year for you.”

(Before I could say anything else, he walked away. Not only was I in tears, but so were the cashier and the lady behind me in line. I was really speechless as I’d heard about things like this but had never witnessed it, let alone had it happen to me. To the gentleman who did this, I really hope you’re reading this. Thank you for your generosity. You made an extremely difficult time of year and a really crappy year so much better. I hope, in times to come, I will be in a position to pay it forward.)

(I’m working the closing shift with another coworker when suddenly an elderly lady passes out cold on one of our tables. Some other customers are with her immediately and I call an ambulance right away. I help by grabbing blankets and something to drink as soon as she is conscious again and the ambulance takes her to the hospital. Through all that, some customers stay by her side and tell the paramedics what happened, so she can receive the care she needs. Fast forward three weeks. I’ve been wondering a few times what might have happened to that lady, but I’ve accepted I’ll probably never get to know. I arrive to start my shift one day and see a lady who seems quite familiar standing by a coworker. My coworker greets me and tells me the lady wants to talk to me.)

Elderly Lady: “I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m [Elderly Lady], the woman who passed out here a few weeks ago. I got out of the hospital yesterday and I wanted to stop by and thank you. Thanks to your fast reaction, I’m still here today.”

(She proceeds to tell me that the doctors found an issue with her heart as the reason for her passing out. It needed immediate treatment, which she then received. I tell her what actually happened because she couldn’t really remember.)

Elderly Lady: “I remember another woman kneeling next to me, holding my head and such. Do you happen to know her?”

Me: “No, I’m sorry. That was another customer, and she left when you were taken care of. All I did was call an ambulance, really. Anything else was done by other customers and the paramedics.”

Elderly Lady: “And this was more than I could expect already. Thank you. Will you tell me your name?”

(I gave her my name and told her the name of my coworker, who was there, too. She wrote both of our names down. We talked for a few more minutes until I had to start my shift. She thanked me again and left. Fast forward another two weeks. Once more I arrived at work, this time to find a nicely-wrapped gift with my name on it. Inside was a box of chocolates and a card from the elderly lady, in which she thanked me once more and said how much it meant to her. My coworker got a gift, too. We’re still waiting to see the lady return so we can finally thank her for the gifts. Seeing the lady go the extra mile just because I did what should be common courtesy totally restored my faith in humanity.)

(This year has been extremely difficult on my family. First, my grandmother, my mother’s mother, passes away eight days after having a stroke. Then, five weeks later, my sister takes her life. Due to the emotional stress and an emotional breakdown, my mother ends up leaving work and is told to not return until after the new year. As a result, both my dad and I help provide for our household. He only gets so much a week, and I get paid once a month through Social Security Death Benefits. During this time, many people have offered — and gone through with — buying my daughter Christmas presents. I go through a couple programs for it, and after I think we’ve received every single present, including ones from my late husband’s family, my mother drops this one on me.)

Mom: *gets off the phone* “That was our landlord.”

Me: “Yeah? What she’s up to?”

Mom: “Her mother put [My Daughter] in the Christmas Children’s Giving selection.”

Me: “Yeah?”

Mom: “She was picked, and will be getting presents tomorrow.”

Me: “M-more?! From random strangers?!”

Mom: “Yep.”

Me: *ducks head down to not let anyone see me tear up*

(To everyone who has helped this family out, after such a horrible and devastating year, just for Christmas, I can’t thank you enough. Thanks to all these people, my daughter will have a great Christmas; we had been so worried what we would possibly do to afford it for her.)

Related:
Just Another Christmas Miracle

On the first night of Chanukah 2018, my home was vandalized with a swastika and paint stripper was dumped on my car. My car was totaled out because the unknown substance etched itself into the glass, and metal and spray paint would not stick.

I was in shock when, the night after the attack, a candle-light vigil was organized for us to show hate crimes were not tolerated here. Someone even set up a GoFundMe to help cover the costs to replace my car.

Even though the vandals haven’t yet been caught, my neighborhood has rallied around us to ensure that we feel safe and protected. I never thought so many strangers would be so willing to make us feel safe and welcome after someone would attack us just because of our religious beliefs, but seeing all those people rally around us give me hope that the world really is moving towards the right direction.

Having grown up in a well-developed country, crossing the road is probably the least of our worries due to the abundance of traffic lights, zebra crossings, and pedestrian bridges. Recently, my family went for a vacation to Bangkok, Thailand as a group of eight people. Being a dense city area, the traffic is pretty nightmarish there. Around our hotel, to get to the other side of the main road will require you to either jaywalk or to walk a long distance to the overhead transit system and cross its bridge.

We saw what appeared to be a traffic light for pedestrians, and crossed the first half normally. The main road was quite wide and crossing it would require us to pass through two traffic lights, with each stopping cars flowing from a certain direction. Reaching the other half, we realized that the traffic light was either broken or disused, as it remained red — or didn’t even turn on at all; I can’t remember the details. So, we were stuck in the middle of the road, and it was difficult for us to cross as a large group and with all the cars moving at a pretty fast speed. I recalled us getting stuck there for at least a solid two minutes.

A motorcyclist saw eight of us, looking like lost tourists wanting to cross the road, and stopped for us in the middle lane — it was a three-lane road — and motioned for the cars to stop, as well. Surprisingly, the cars at the other lanes stopped, and he gestured for us to cross, which we did quickly and gratefully.

While this might seem like a small gesture, the kindness of the Thais did impress me significantly. While I had seen roads in other countries which were as “messy” as this one, this is definitely the first time I had seen someone stopping just to allow us jaywalkers to cross, even though they did not have to.