Humanity is a complete upheaval. This is the time for everyone to band together and fight for the greater good... or at least a few simple daily rewards, like kindness. Sometimes, when you're at your lowest it's in the eyes of a stranger that you find hope.
Redditor u/DC9Fancap wanted everyone to share some much needed faith in humanity stories, asking.... What is the nicest thing you've ever done for a complete stranger and vice versa?
The Fall....
GiphyHad a patient who was an older gentleman who fell and hurt his arm. Patient was crying at the scene because we had to cut the sleeve off of his shirt to get to his arm, and patient stated that he couldn't afford to replace the shirt. Came back to work two days later and my crew and I went to WalMart, bought him some new shirts, and went back to his house to deliver them. He was so surprised and so happy. And his X-rays were negative on his arm, which was even better. MyStacheHasAStache
The Save....
A homeless guy camped out in front of a Dunkin' Donuts ran inside to tell me the meter maid was coming. Saved me $45 and he wouldn't even let me buy him breakfast. raymond17funches
Umbrella-ella-ella....
Maybe not the nicest, but this has had the greatest impact on me. An elderly Asian woman was walking past my home when a sudden down burst of rain started with no end in sight. She took shelter in our entry under the canopy at the front door while it poured. I looked out the window to see the rain and noticed the woman. I walked to the closet and took out a large umbrella, opened the door, and offered her the umbrella. She spoke no English and was confused. I gestured that she could have the umbrella. She smiled and walked off into the rain. A week later, a woman dropped off a note and a package at our door. It was written in Chinese. I took it to a friend to read.
The woman had been in the states to attend the death of a child and had a terrible trip. The rain and lack of communication had her very upset. The simple act of offering an umbrella was an act of kindness she had never experienced. No one had ever simply given her something for no reason and she had no good experiences here except that simple act of kindness while in the states. She has sent me letters, pictures and gifts for years since that day. I replied with a letter written by my friend thanking her for the gift. We now share photos from major life events. Kindness has no boundaries and makes the world a wonderful place! NotJustAnyDNA
The Bike Ride....
Saw an old man riding his bike while trying to hold a large bucket and felt obligated to ask if he needs a ride. He said yes. We loaded his stuff up and off we went. He said he was heading to dollar general. I said no problem, anywhere else you need to go? He was going to ride his bike 15 miles to the Human Resources office to get his food stamps. I said I got you man. Asked him his favorite music. I put on "sitting on the dock of the bay." He just sat there eating his chips from dollar general and bobbing his head to the music. On the way back we got some McDonalds. He said it was the best day of his life. It was the best day of mine. beefcase2
We all need Store Moms....
GiphyIn high school I worked at a grocery store next door to a subway. It's where I would eat during my lunch everyday cause I knew the people who worked there and they were really nice (occasionally get a free cookie or chips for no reason) and the places were partnered so we got a discount.
We also got punch cards that said every 6th or 7th sandwich was free. I had a free sandwich that day I was looking forward to, however I overheard a coworker I didn't know yet (we were both 17) talking to another coworker (the "store mom" who everyone loved and knew) about how hungry she was. Apparently her family was really poor and she hasn't been paid yet so she wasn't gonna get to eat today. I waited till the girl went to go do something in the back and gave my free meal card to the "store mom" and told her to say a customer left this or something and give it to the girl so she wouldn't be embarrassed.
She did and the girl cried and then got a FAT sandwich. It apparently made her whole week. I never tell this story cause it makes me sound like I'm stroking my own ego. refertothecalendar
Keep Smiling....
I was driving a truck (18 wheeler) in an urban residential area of Houston TX. I had taken the wrong exit looking for the place I was supposed to deliver and evidently my paperwork also had the wrong address. Traffic was bad and I was somewhere trucks were most definitely not supposed to be. I pulled over onto a sidewalk and set my flashers to try and figure out where to go before I really screwed anything up. I was blocking several driveways and this family in a minivan. I got out and and the man (I'm assuming Dad) driving the mini van got out too. I was asking him for directions but he didn't speak English.
So he got his 10 year old daughter and she translated for us. When he didn't know where I was trying to go he got on the phone and called one of his friends. They drive up in another mini van with a family. At this point there are two separate random families helping me figure out where I'm supposed to go while my truck is blocking their road during Houston rush hour. They never stopped smiling. Eventually we figured out the best way for me to get back to the interstate without causing problems. Never learned any of their names but I still think about them whenever I'm sitting in bad traffic. They were beautiful families who really saved my ass in a bad situation. Limorides
Save the Cookies....
Recently, I was in line at a grocery store and the lady before me had two items. One was essential (can't remember what) and the other was a box of cookies.
The cashier told her they don't accept visa there. The woman was pretty upset about not being able to get what she needed before having to bus pick her children up. I told the cashier to throw it on my bill. The woman was so grateful and wanted to put the cookies back but I bought her the cookies too. I could tell I really made her day. I offered her a ride as well but she declined and ran off to catch the bus. Affinity-Charms
Teachers Rule!
I was struggling keeping up in college, trying to learn Arabic, so my teacher, a very sweet 70 year old lady, gave me 2 hours of private tutoring per week for free for a year and a half. She retired after that, but I'm still very grateful. Best teacher ever. RtotheStotheD
Insurance for All!
I have some pretty severe chronic health issues. So I've been saving money ever since I got my first job to have a cushion just in case I was unable to work/without insurance.
I just found out a little girl has the same type of cancer I had a few years ago (pretty rare). She and her family are immigrants without health insurance and have apparently been trying to raise the money for her treatment for a bit. I'm in a good place financially and have great health insurance and am working in a field that is flexible and understanding of my health issues, so I did something arguably irresponsible and donated my health savings account to this girl anonymously.
My vice versa is that I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket for my treatment. What wasn't covered by my insurance was covered by charity that I never even asked for. That treatment was horrible but it saved my life and I was so grateful that I was given that opportunity and didn't have to worry about the money. I felt like this little girl deserved the same. VDaineSarassri
Pokemon brings us together....
GiphyMaybe not a complete stranger, but we definitely didn't know each other beyond being in the same classes.
In 6th grade, I had 2 copies of Pokémon Silver. I had lost my copy, and my cousin who was given a copy by a friend gave me his since he already had Gold version. I end up finding my old copy a couple months later, and around that time I hear this guy saying how much he wished he could play a Pokémon game on his gameboy that his older cousin had given to him (it was an old Gameboy pocket). The next day, I bring my second copy to school, and give it to him at lunch.
That guy became my best friend, and we still keep in contact today, 17 years later. Anteres
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.
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.