What are some little things people do that make you glad?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Every now and then, something happens to make me think that there are some people in the world who are not the self-absorbed, unfeeling twats I take them to be (by default). Recent example: My wife and I were milling round in a local second hand shop when she pointed out an older woman in the car park who seemed confused. She was walking back and forth next to her car and looked worried about something. We were about to go see if she needed help when a kid of around 16 stopped, talked to her for a few seconds. We could see them laugh, and then the kid dived under the car and came up with the woman's keys. Apparently, she dropped them, kicked them under the car and wasn't able to retrieve them.

But here's the thing. In the minute or so that we watched until the teen stopped and helped her, FOUR people walked right past the old lady, all of them adults. It gave me sort of a warm fuzzy that someone in the age range typically identified with ultimate narcissism stopped to help.

So, any other stories that restore your faith in humanity (or at least make you think that wiping it out may be premature)?

Boru

[brewer]

When people perform random acts of kindness. Like the kid you mentioned.

No fanfare, no motive other than the kindness, no expectations, nothing but the act. It makes me feel good when I do it. It makes me smile when I see/hear others doing it.

[abaris]

Try as I might,I cn't come up with any random experiences of human kindness. The best I can do is people not walking by while a lady had an epileptic fit in the streets. Some actually stopped and called emergency services. Which isn't that natural, given that just a couple of weeks ago, a man was left ot die in an elevator while people stepped over him as CCTV showed.

[Athene]

Many people will let you go ahead of of them in the checkout line if they've got a cart full of groceries and you only have a 2-liter of Pepsi and a pack of toilet tissue. Little thing, but very considerate.

[brewer]

I was telling an acquaintance of mine that we were having puppies and that I'd be buying/collecting news papers. Next time I saw her she had about 40 lbs. Said she called two local libraries and asked for the ones they were tossing, went and collected them. I only mentioned it in passing and look what happened. RAK.

[vorlon13]

A long time ago, a company I worked for announced they were giving all the grunts a turkey for the holidays. They posted an opt out form for anyone who didn't want a turkey so I dropped one in the bin since I lived alone and a 20lb turkey wouldn't even fit in my little freezer.

Did not give the bird another thought, and then a few weeks later I got an envelope in an interoffice mailer, and I opened it up. It was a handwritten thank you note from the downtown homeless shelter thanking me for the turkey. I just figured the company was going to tally up the number of desired birds and order that many, it never occurred to me the company was committed to giving away the same number of turkeys as there were employees.

I choked up when I read the card.

OK, dammit, I cried.

(and that's about the uncoolest thing you can do at your desk when you work for a defense contractor making missile parts and jet fighter subsystems)

[Jackalope]

My son will offer to help random people who look like they could use a hand, like the woman in a wheelchair struggling with her groceries earlier today.

That kid inspires me to up my game as well.

[KevinM1]

I've been a gamer since I was 3 years old.  My grandmother was an incredibly brilliant woman.  She graduated college when she was 16.  No joke.  She understood that computers were the future and that my brothers and I should get a leg up on them, so she bought us a Commodore VIC-20.  That was my first taste of gaming (Gorf, Radar Rat Race, Q-Bert, Pacman, Frogger, a ton of edutainment games, etc.), and it's been in my blood ever since.

Gamers have a mixed reputation, and rightfully so.  Just look at the refuse that infects online services like Xbox Live and the GamerGate crap that happened last year.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I learned about the biannual Games Done Quick telethons on Twitch.  Speed running is a pretty niche subset of gaming.  Outside of Twitch subscriptions, there's not a lot of money in it.  It's not an eSport like fighting game tournaments or the various MOBAs.  But these speed runners donate their time and money to gather at a hotel for a week twice a year to raise money for cancer research and Doctors Without Borders.

I just think that's awesome.  Turning a pretty narrow skill set into a means of literally saving lives is pretty incredible, and it just gets bigger every year.  More people, more games, more/bigger donations.  There's a definite pay it forward aspect to it that's nice to see.  As an old gamer nerd, it brings a smile on my face every time, and it's must-see.  Speed running something like Super Metroid (which is always the last game) is one thing.  Speed running Chrono Trigger is something else entirely.

[Thumpalumpacus]

When I broke up with my girl back in June, I took my guitar to the beach to have a beer and play a little. There was another guitarist there, total stranger, but we sat down together and jammed the blues and drank some beer. I felt a lot better about things after that.

[Pyrrho]

When I broke up with my girl back in June, I took my guitar to the beach to have a beer and play a little. There was another guitarist there, total stranger, but we sat down together and jammed the blues and drank some beer. I felt a lot better about things after that.

I feel better after drinking, too.