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Anonymous Do-Gooders Reveal How They're Secretly Making The World A Better Place

Anonymous Do-Gooders Reveal How They're Secretly Making The World A Better Place

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The world could use some brightening up these days, and even the smallest good deeds can make a difference. In Judaism, we call them mitzvot. See some trash? Pick it up. Make someone smile. Let someone merge in front of you. Let bugs live. We're all in this together.

486921 asked, How are you secretly making the world a better place?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

Kindness is free. Kindness is easy.

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I decided to be kind. A great friend of mine is one of the kindest people I know. He isn't a pushover, but he is extremely kind and gentle with everyone. He can cut loose, have some drinks, joke around, and so on. But he is always himself, and always kind. There are a lot of things I want to change in my life, and I decided to be kind was my first step. I've had amazing results. My relationships are better, and I'm feeling mentally and emotionally healthier.

This change may not have a worldwide impact, but I've already seen my wife become kinder also. So, for now, my world is already a better place.

I do this too, it actually feels nice, you never know if someone is having an emergency.

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Every time I'm driving and someone turns on their signal to change lanes I make room and let them in. It actually hasn't increased my commute at all.

Every little bit helps.

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Pick up trash whenever I see some because if you start this, the one with you will too.

Noble but I don't think New Yorkers would like this, we'd be ok if the bus just slowed down enough to jump on.

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When I'm getting on the bus, if I see someone down the street running for the bus I move really slowly and fumble with my card so that they have a chance of making it. They usually do!

It's hard to be patient, but do try to consider the person on the other side of the call.

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I make it my point to be nice to customer service workers, even if I'm calling or confronting them with a complaint.

Remember folks, 99.9% of the time, it's not the reps fault, they just have the terrible job of dealing with it. Yelling at them just ruins their day even more than it already is. However, being overly nice to them can brighten their day, and make them more willing to ensure your problem gets fixed.

EDIT: I should note that I'm not just referring to call center employees. It goes for cashiers, greeters, secretaries and anyone else whose job it is to interact with customers. They all could use a smile.

Two great ideas. You can actually get paid to sell your blood plasma.

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I used to donate platelets every other week. I did that for eight years.

Now, I sprinkle wildflower seeds on my walks with my dog. I try to pick the bee-friendly ones.

This is the way people would prefer to be remembered - with dignity.

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I like to hang out on /r/lastimages and find people's last photos of their loved ones who have passed. When they have wires/tubes/medical equipment, etc hanging off of them or are surrounded by scary medical equipment, I remove them in photoshop, correct lighting, color and whatnot to make their loved one more visible or make the setting more respectable as a memorial photo.

Sometimes its removing cups, needle bruises on a sick person's face, etc. Most of the time I need to message the folks directly bc my account is not old enough to post in comments. I super love it though. It makes my heart happy.

EDIT: Oops, I guess technically I'm not really doing it secretly. But only my bf knows I do it and I don't tell the photo owners beforehand.

It's great that the brother is getting comfort, but how will family and friends feel when he dies?

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My brother has cancer. It's terminal. He has 5 months to live. He doesn't want anyone to know. I'm the only person he's told. I throw BBQs every weekend and invite over everyone he knows. I listen to him and help him cope. He doesn't want anyone to know so I carry this burden alone. I'm grieving every day but no one knows. I suffer alone so he doesn't have to have the emotional burden of watching people grieve his death openly in front of him.

Always carry a lighter, even if you don't smoke. It's a great way to break the ice.

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I always carry around a little 'survival pack' for other people, basically, things people and strangers ask me for but I never have on me. Items in the pack include:

A lighter (I don't even smoke myself, but it's probably the most common thing I get asked for), painkillers, chewing gum, plasters (you never know when someone will ask you for one!), Vaseline, cough drops, and some feminine hygiene products.

It's made things so much easier for myself and others. Whenever someone asks me at the bus stop "hey, do you have a light?" or a friend at work says "do you have any painkillers?", it makes me really happy and feels like I'm doing something extra for other people.

EDIT: yes, I'm British. By painkillers, I mean paracetamol/ibuprofen, and by plasters, I mean band-aids /bandages. Sorry for the confusion!

Seeing worms struggling gets me every time.

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When the sun comes back out after a rainstorm, I move worms on the sidewalk back to the grass so at least they have a chance instead of just drying up and dying.

To one person, a good deed could brighten the world.

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I visit a lot of elderly customers as a shopping delivery driver. I always make a point of taking the delivery inside for them and if they want, I will also put it away for them too. I also always ask if they need anything while I'm there (One lady needed me to open a jam jar, I've moved couches, helped with puzzles, stayed and had tea etc.)

If I notice that they're clearly alone, I make a point of asking if they have visitors as I would happily go visit them in my spare time.

One guy asked me if I could go back and mow his lawn.

Free art work!! Love it.

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I make artwork to sell professionally. Mostly small things. Some actual miniatures.

So sometimes I have pieces that don't quite meet my standards for sale but are still cool. Slightly imperfect blank books, little dolls, whatever.

I leave them in random places like the coffee shop or the library with a note attached that says something along the lines of "If you found this, it's for you. Have an awesome day."

I like to imagine that they brighten someone's day.

When you go out, leave something neater than how you found it.

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I'm teaching my son to leave everything better than we find it. If there are shopping carts left around the parking lot, we take them to the front of the store where they belong while we walk in. If we are out hiking with the dog and see someone left their dog poop bag by the side of the trail, we bring it with us if we're carrying our dog's anyway. We pick up trash if we're walking into a store and see it in the parking lot. Little things that I hope make the world better.

Here's the thing about littering: don't.

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I hate littering and my friends and bf used to make fun of me because I will carry my rubbish until I get to a bin but over time a lot of them have said to me that they now feel too guilty to throw their rubbish on the ground, my boyfriend admitted he spat out his chewing gum and picked it up again thinking about my rants! I'm going to save the planet one recovering litterer(?) at a time.

I think a trip to the seed store is in order today.

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I buy bags of California Poppy seeds and I toss them into bare patches of the ground when I take my dogs for walks. They are tough plants that can grow just about anywhere and they're beautiful. I've sown them in at least 8 neighborhoods and once they're established they'll come back year after year.

Saving a tire means saving two tires, as well as someone's hundreds of dollars.

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I pick up screws and nails (and other sharp objects) from drivable surfaces and dispose of them daily.

Once I started looking, I was surprised to discover how many I find.

Leaving extra space between the person in front of you allows cars to move more freely, easing congestion.

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Try to break up Phantom Traffic Jams.

You can help prevent the spread of superbugs by finishing your prescribed meds. It also protects the environment.

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I take my medication.

Americans throw away 500 million straws every day. Carrying a reusable one makes a huge difference. Consider wildlife.

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I've started carrying a metal straw around with me in my purse and use it instead of a plastic one when I buy drinks. That video of the sea turtle crying and screaming while they tried to pull a straw from its nose really haunts me.

If bugs aren't harming you, don't kill them. Each of them plays a role in the environment.

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It may not seem like much, but I've been teaching my 4-year-old son to not kill bugs when he sees them just chilling. I don't know why, but it really creeps me out to see the delight some kids get out of just stomping the some crickets in a corner like they're sociopaths in training. My son knows of a few bugs that are totally harmless around here that he'll make a point to carefully capture and relocate so they don't get obliterated by other kids.

People Who Actually Died And Were Revived Share Their Experiences

"Reddit user AlaskaStiletto asked: 'Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?'"

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.