10 Moments That Teach Us Kindness Always Returns When You Need It Most
Kindness & compassion might appear to be things you give away and lose. However I have discovered that the more kindness you share with others the more it comes back to you at unexpected moments.
These true stories about kindness and surprising compassion prove that the good things you do for others do not vanish. They return to you during your most difficult moments.
I lost a major client after weeks of negotiations and it was definitely my fault. My director scheduled a meeting with me the following morning and I felt uneasy about it. I walked in thinking he would list all my mistakes. Instead he opened the account history and showed me the things I had done right. He told me we should focus on winning the next opportunity and sent me a new lead on the spot. He never mentioned the failure to upper management or discussed it during team meetings. He simply trusted me with another chance right away.
A few years back I found myself without money & living by myself in an unfamiliar city. One day my landlord quietly slid an envelope under my door. Inside was enough cash to cover three months of rent along with a simple note asking me to help someone else when I had the chance. That gesture stayed with me over the years. Not long ago I heard my new neighbour crying on her first evening in the building. I decided to leave some groceries at her door with a note. When she thanked me later she mentioned that no one had ever shown her that kind of kindness before. I explained that someone had once done something similar for me and that was really all she needed to know.
At 23 I got fired from a job I really loved. My boss gave me a reference letter that was warm and truthful about what I could do. That letter helped me get a better job only three weeks later. Twenty years after that I wrote the same kind of letter for someone who was leaving my team during a tough time. The kindness my old boss showed me had taught me to do the same thing for others.
When I was going through my darkest time I texted my friend just a question mark at three in the morning. I could not find the words to explain what I was feeling. She called me right away without hesitation. For the next hour she told me hilarious stories about things we had done together in the past. She never once asked me what was bothering me or tried to make me talk about my problems. Instead she just reminded me of who I used to be before everything became so difficult. Her approach was exactly what I needed in that moment.
When I was 17 years old I gave my winter jacket to a kid at school. He was always cold but he was too proud to ask anyone for help. Fifteen years later I was going through a really tough time in my life and an anonymous package showed up at my door with a jacket inside and a note. The note said you gave me yours once when you did not have to and I have thought about it ever since. The kindness I had shown all those years ago had come back to me exactly when I needed it most.
When I turned 35 I organised a birthday party for myself but hardly anyone came. I was sitting there feeling pretty miserable when my neighbour knocked on the door and asked if she could join me. I barely knew her at that point but she stayed with me for several hours & completely changed how the evening felt. That simple act of kindness was the beginning of a friendship that has lasted ever since. We became close friends from that moment and it all happened because she noticed I needed someone and decided to reach out.
I lost my wallet at an airport & ended up spending two days in an unfamiliar city where I had to depend on strangers for help. About a week later I got a phone call from someone who had found my wallet. He returned it to me with all my belongings still inside. The man told me to just keep it moving and then ended the call. That simple act of kindness made a lasting impression on me.
One night I was changing a tire on the highway when a man pulled over to help. He got out of his car and changed the tire for me without saying much. Before he left he explained that he stopped because someone had once helped him when he needed it and he never forgot that moment. His words about this invisible chain of kindness made a lasting impression on me.
Years after I stopped teaching high school English I got a message from a student I used to teach. She said that a talk we had when she was sixteen changed everything about where her life went. She became a journalist because of it. The strange thing was that I could not remember that conversation at all. That small moment of kindness meant so much to her that she carried it with her for years. I never knew I had made such a big difference in her life until she reached out to tell me.
My mother and I were separated for two years. During that entire time she left the outside light on every single night in case I decided to come by. I never showed up once during those two years but she kept that light burning anyway. When I finally made my way back to her years later I found out about what she had been doing. That light represented unconditional love in the most basic way possible. She left it on just in case I might come home.
