50 Wholesome Moments People Had With Strangers That Might Restore Your Faith In Humanity

I'll never forget the impact this experience had on me.

When I was a kid we didn't have a lot of money, so we often shopped at thrift stores. What I loved about that was that you could get 10 books for a dollar, so I would plant myself in front of the book section and make piles of which one I wanted to get and then decided after I'd gone through them all.

One day an older lady saw me sitting with my piles and asked if I liked to read. I told her I did and showed her a few of the books I found that I liked. She smiled and then pulled a dollar out of her purse, handed it to me and said, "Promise me that you'll keep reading." I was so happy and immediately stood up and said that I would. She smiled and walked away and I went back to my piles able to pick out an extra 10 books to take home.

It was just a small act of kindness for her, but for me having a random stranger encourage my love of reading and making me promise to never stop definitely had a lot to do with my continued love of reading. This was over 20 years ago, but I still think of her whenever I buy a new book.

Maybe my rock bottom moment?

I was moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the middle of winter to get thrown into rehab.

My family lied to me to get me to move. Said I’d have the place to myself, they had a condo right on the beach that I was going to stay at rent-free to get “mentally healthy again”

Oh no.

So just throwing it out there now,

Rehab is something the a****t needs to choose for themselves.

Anyway, it’s my 2nd day there, I’m losing my s**t because not only am I going through withdrawals but I’m there against my will in someplace I’ve never been, so I escaped.

I packed my bags. Walked right out the door, not even knowing where I was in the state… and started walking.

I was hoping to figure out which way the beach was, but I was in the middle of the snowy woods with no sense of direction.

I realized that if it took an hour to drive here from the condo, it’ll prob take a lot longer to walk, so I decided to play my luck further and stuck my thumb out to hitchhike a ride.

Not only did a person pick me up and not m****r me, but TWO cars picked me up and didn’t attempt to m****r me! (The first one took me a good portion of the way, the second one got me to the condo)

I, of course, was on my defense, had a pen in hand, ready to attack if anything got weird, but they were kind enough to let me warm up in the car and get me along as far as they could take me.

I thanked them both over and over for their kindness and marched my way up the steps to the condo, only to find no one was home.

When they left me at the rehab center, they took my keys and my phone, so I had no one to call, and no way to let myself in - cue the meltdown.

I’m f*****g livid. Freezing. It’s 16 degrees outside and I’m stuck on the windy oceanfront with a duffel bag of clothes from California, and nowhere to go.

I’m thinking to myself- this is it. I’ve finally f****d up so bad, I’m probably going to die now.

Out of sheer anger at myself and my parents, I decide… I’m going to kick in this condo door and get warm.

But the front door was on a step, which was hard to get the right angle to get a solid kick into it, so I just tried slamming my body up against the door, but felt like I was only doing damage to my body.

Just as I was giving in to the sadness and ready to give up… the door next door opens.

It’s a neighbor I’ve never met who has no idea why some guy is trying to break in next door.

I try to catch my breath to tell him, I’m sorry - I’m their son, I’m just trying to get warm. Etc etc

He was an older man, late 50s, who was making breakfast for his daughter in their kitchen when he heard my kicking at the door.

He invited me in, gave me some hot coffee, started chatting with me while the daughter wanted to show me her school work and tell me about their plans for the day.

They were getting ready to go get her dress for some school event when he asked if there was anyone I could call.

I was able to get in touch with my aunt, who recommended I go back to the rehab center.

I was ready to plead with her there over the phone to let me stay with them, but something about this guy and the kid made me feel safer than anyone from my entire family.

I decided to accept my fate and asked the kind stranger if he could take me back, to which he was more than happy to help.

The car ride back to rehab was the exact opposite experience I had when going into rehab.

We talked about his brother who had similar problems to my own.

He spoke with such love for him, it broke my heart to think I was in the same boat, but he reassured me - if his brother could get better, so can I.

Something truly resonated that day for me.

I didn’t want to be a burden to the world from the pain my parents gave me - I wanted to be healed, and to help heal others like this guy.

The kindest stranger I ever met-

Thank you, Mr. Gray. 🙏

Back in high school, I was admitted to an under-18 mental hospital due to some problems I was going through, and I had to stay there until they found it was okay and safe to release me.

During the time I was there, I ended up missing my prom and was really upset by it. The other people in the hospital with me - ranging from ages 10-18 - decided to surprise me with an in-hospital-prom.

We were going into the sensory room (which was a room that had lots of colorful lights and comfortable floors, and we’d play calming music for meditation hours) when the nurse in charge asked me what my favorite song on the radio at the time was. She then surprised me by playing that song instead of the calming music and told me the meditation hour was going to be spent at my very own prom that was organized by my fellow inpatients, and we’d have fun music and the cool lighting. We all danced and laughed together and it’s something I’ll never forget that these people - who I had only known for a day or two - got the nurses to agree to hijack the sensory room and surprised me with my own prom.

I received a letter from the parent of a guy (inmate) at the prison where I worked. It said “I want you to know because of your kindness to my son he was able to spend his birthday with his brother and family for the first time in years. He told us you were one of the few people he could count on to treat him like a human. Your diligence in getting errors corrected by the court has helped him trust again. He is enrolled in school. Thank you sir. “

Very few people take time to do this and it made my day.

I had just dyed my whole head of hair a very obnoxiously bright pink, and my conservative family were just continuously putting me down about it, saying it’s because I want attention, that it makes me look like a clown, etc. I was starting to regret it after a bit but left it as it was fading making it turn light pink.

While at the store, a random elderly lady approached me and I was prepared for a lecture about how damaging dye can be, but instead she just beamed and said “it’s like cotton candy! How cute!” And then someone she was with gasped when they noticed and agreed, they said it looked amazing and how they wished they could pull it off the way I do. I wanted to jump up and down, I was so happy.

In February 2020, I met an angel. I still think about him. Here's the story.

I had just sat down on an international flight home to see my unexpectedly ailing father when I got a call saying he was on a ventilator and may not survive the night. The man next to me very obviously overheard everything, but didn't say anything.

On the flight though, he pulled out a snack and offered me some. This was his way of initiating conversation with me. He said he had overheard the call about my dad and repeatedly expressed a genuine desire for him to pull through. He also told me that I'd be okay no matter what happened. We hugged it out when we deplaned and he again expressed good wishes. If this stranger had not engaged with me, I would've spent the flight silently crying and being in my head. He made that two-hour flight bearable.

I had an very frail old lady ask to hug me at the mall once. As I’m not a monster I obviously obliged. I asked her afterwards why she wanted to hug me of all people , she explained that I looked just like her grandchild that passed away recently. That is a moment I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

I was on the train home late one night, minding my own business, when this woman comes out of nowhere and sits her a*s next to me. "You'll do," she said and plonked down a bottle of wine (open), and two plastic cups. We spent the journey talking about her breakup, our lives and drinking her wine. Parted ways at the end of the line and have never seen her again. She was brilliant.

I used to work as a DSP, i enjoyed the work i was doing but it did not pay very well and I was struggling a lot financially. a lot of my clients liked to go out to eat on our days out and I usually just didn't order anything when we did because I never had the money. i had gone with a client to a local pizza chain one day and when the waitress brought out their food they brought a personal size pizza as well, set it in front of me, told me it was on the house and asked if I'd like a drink to go with it. i nearly cried as i thanked her. i had no money and no food at home to eat, it was because of her that I ate that day at all and I'm still incredibly grateful for her kindness. she didn't know I was struggling or how little I had the chance to eat, she just noticed someone didn't order food and decided they deserved to eat too.

Once when I was still in my "paint it black" phase I went to the grocery store with my dad. (Keep in mind this is a very conservative semi small church culture town.) I am above average height and that day I was wearing high heel boots. So there I am with the black dress and the fringe and everything and this tiny old woman randomly approached me. My heart freezes for a second. I flinch inwardly. "You are so tall, my darling! And so very pretty!" (Rough translation.) This tiny a*s old church looking lady came over not to ridicule me but to give me a genuine compliment and my heart just melted. I still think about it regularly.

My family was driving through Mexico in a motorhome after my high school graduation. We came to a fork in the road, but there were no signs. So we were stopped there for a bit, as we pulled out maps and tried to figure out which road would go to Mérida. (This was before cell phones, never mind GPS.)

No one noticed the commuter bus behind us until it honked. So we pulled over to let it pass. He pulled up beside us and asked if we needed help. We explained where we were heading, and the driver told us to follow him.

We followed him for about 10 minutes before he motioned for us to pull up beside him again. He gave us the last couple turns we needed and then explained he needed to head back because his route actually goes the other way at the fork where he found us.

I couldn't believe he took his whole bus 10 minutes out of the way just to show us the way. I looked at his passengers and not a single one even seemed upset. A few even waved and smiled as they departed. I loved all of Mexico, but the people in the Yucatan were amazingly friendly. Since then, I've always tried to help strangers to my city.

A long time ago a woman's card declined while buying groceries, so she was doing that whole remove an item and swipe again thing. I got extremely frustrated, but every other line was long so moving wasn't an option. I said f**k this I wanna go home and eat, I paid for all the groceries to make my life easier, and get home after a long 12 hour shift.

She asked for my phone number so she could eventually pay me back. I gave it to her but told her to only text me when she had paid it forward because I didn't need the money.


I randomly received a text a few years later that said, " I finally paid it forward".


Was lost, thought they had the wrong number, but they specifically saved it to tell me they were doing well enough to pay it forward finally. At that time I was going through a really rough time, and that text actually brought me out of the funk I was in.

I hate flying. I'm terrified of it. Back in 1995, I was flying home from grad school, short flight. We are landing so I'm thinking YAY, I'm still alive when suddenly s**t starts bouncing around. I know we didn't fall super far but it felt like we were falling pretty significantly. My seatmate's drink spilled, an overhead compartment opened and stuff fell out, people were gasping and there were some yells. Outside the window is sort of greenish grey. At some point, I calmly took my seatmate's hand--total stranger, older white guy. I said how scared I was and he immediately started telling me that he flies every week and trying to explain about turbulence.

We went back up in the air and got rerouted to another city about three hours away from where we were supposed to be. Dude is super nice, trying to distract me by showing me pictures of his kids, talking about his job and family, asking me things. We land after being told we have the option of taking another flight back home. No way in hell am I getting on another plane. Dude says he is going to rent a car and can drop me off since he lives near where I was living with my mom.

48-year-old me would be telling myself OMG THIS GUY COULD BE CRAZY, KIDNAP YOU, K**L YOU but 23-year-old me was like, "Sure!" Dude drives us back shows me his CAR PHONE like holy cow what sorcery is this?! Calls his wife, I meet her over the phone, everything was awesome. I tried to pay him for gas but he wouldn't hear of it.

It's kind of sad to say how thrilled I am that nothing untoward or pervy or anything weird happened other than that a very nice man gave me a ride home. I had his business card and sent him a thank you note to his office. I will never, ever forget that extreme act of kindness.

I pulled into the mall parking lot and heard something snap in my car, but couldn't figure out what it was. Did my shopping and came back. The car would start, but I couldn't shift out of park. A man and his daughter pulled up and saw me craning under the steering wheel, and came over to ask what was wrong. The guy took a look at it. Turned out a wire had wrapped around the drive train and snapped when I turned the wheel, and for safety reasons the car would not drive again until it was fixed.

I was pretty much in despair. I was a broke college student with no money to have the car fixed, let alone towed and then fixed.

But this dude was not just a dad. Oh no. He was a SuperDad™. Not only did he have the know-how to fix my car, he had all the tools in his truck.

There were complications. Twice he and his daughter took me to AutoZone to get parts I needed. He worked for a few hours, finished as it was getting dark, and once they were sure my car worked, he and his daughter left without having set foot in the mall.

This was a couple of years back and I don't remember their names, but I'll always remember what those two did for me.

I got back from a class trip and had to go home from the train station. On my way I had a homeless guy come to me and asked me if I had some money for food and drinks... I got myself my last 20€ and we went to a restaurant and had lunch together and had a great time. He told me everything about him and I did too. Still seeing him on the streets today, still greeting each other when we see each other.

Just today, my daughter and I were rushing our foster kitten to the vet ... but we had to walk because my wife had the car at work and wouldn't be home until far too late. A cab was out of the question since Christmas basically left us broke.
Now, the kitten was very much going to die unless we got her to the vet in time - we didn't even stop for decent footwear and were trudging about in gumboots.

I attempted to flag down every passing car as we hurried along - many cars just drove on by as our little kitten's life ebbed away in my daughter's hands ... but one stopped. A wonderfully kind woman pulled over and drove us directly to the vet - cutting the trip from 30 minutes down to about 3.

If kitty survives, this kind stranger is her saviour.

[Update] I got a call from the vet nurse today - little Hera is eating, playing and yelling for attention, as is propper. She's not out of the woods yet ... but everyone is expecting a full recovery. No word on what the problem was but it's not uncommon for kittens to catch a little something that causes them to crash. The trick, the vet mentioned, is to keep them warm, hydrated (vets can use an IV for this) and apply a bit of antibiotics and they've got a good shot. Hera will be with the vet another night ... so hopefully I have news of her return tomorrow!

[Last update]

Hera is home with a clean bill of health!
Above link is a pic each of the 3 kittens - just back from a check-up and a bit scraggly. Hera definitely needs a bath!
We found out that Posiedon has very mild hydrocephalus, which is certainly interesting, given his name!

In a twist of Brisbane-ness, the lady who gave us a lift happened to be at the vet, too! She's been invited to visit any time.

I had a really polite kid (I'd say 8 or 9) come up to me when I worked fast food who wanted to know if we had specific toys from the current set. (Mario Kart.) I asked him what he already had, and managed to complete his set for him.

The next day his Dad came in and said that his son wanted the toys to give him for his birthday which was the day before, because Mario Kart was their thing.

Crashed with my bicycle and the chain came off (I was fine), random cyclist stops, lifts my bike, and with three quick moves puts the chain back. It happened so fast. I didn't even see what she did. I wanted to at least give her some money for a coffee but off she went. What an absolute pro. Thanks random stranger.

I work at a hospital and was walking back from lunch when I see this lady, a little older than me crying super hard. I saw everyone quickly walking past her as if she wasn’t there. I felt in my heart, I can’t be like them, she needs someone. I sat down by her, asked her if she’s ok and she fell into my arms, I held her and let her cry (both of us women for context). She told me how she flew out there just to say goodbye to her dying father. I just held her and listened to her and didn’t leave until she stopped crying a bit. I just needed her to know she wasn’t alone. It stays with me because that’s what we all need, is to know we are not alone.

Went away to the mountains with the wife before our second kid was born. Wakes up in the middle of the night with bad pains says we need to get to hospital ASAP.

Height of the pandemic they won’t let me in and we are far from home. I end up trying to sleep on the floor. In the morning they tell us she needs to be kept for observation. My exhausted a*s needs to drive back and get our stuff.

Besides the stress and exhaustion, it had snowed and I was driving through slippery, winding mountain roads that hadn’t been plowed yet. At one point the car starts drifting and I can’t regain control. Pass the double lines and into a snow bank. Car is covered to mid windows and I pass out.

I was woken by a stranger that was following a little behind. I got out of the car but had no cell service so he took my info and drove to the base of the mountain to call AAA. No luck. Another dude with a pickup stopped and they helped me dig up my car and pull it out.

The car was pretty covered with snow. Not sure if anyone would see me if the guy wasn’t immediately behind me. Maybe I would have woken up or maybe I would have just frozen to death. Some other people stopped while I was working on the car and showed me the best part. I went left - had I gone right I’d have rolled off a cliff and 100% died.

Instead I got to hold my daughter a few weeks later. Those dudes were my guardian angels and all I got ‘em was some Amazon gift cards….