Life can be unfair, the world cruel, and the news depressing. But fortunately, not always.Goodnesshas a way of shining through, thanks to people who choose to make a difference.
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“I’m not letting you do this alone. I’m coming with you.” - My girlfriend and soon to be fiancé when I had to put down my elderly cat three days before Christmas.We went to the vet and she watched me bawl, we both cried our eyes out, and even still after that she let me grieve at home for an hour. She brought me a coffee, and everything to make sugar cookies from the store. She came back and she said she couldn’t fix it, but she didn’t want me to be alone.So we played Christmas music, made terribly ugly cookies, and we weren’t okay; but we were together.That’s when I saw what real, unconditional love looked like.
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A friend who was dying of chronic kidney failure said to me his last night alive “if there is a way to look out for you from the other side, I will” I still think about that all the time.
Last year, my (56M) daughter (13F) told me that she thinks if I were her age we’d be best friends.
When I was a teenager, I was sent to military school. I’d always been a bit rough around the edges—kind of a troublemaker—but never a bad person at heart. I never finished high school because of some family issues, and later in life, I found out I had bipolar disorder type 2 and ADHD. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but my dad told me that my younger sister had been diagnosed with the same conditions, and he thought I should get evaluated too. He said she reminded him so much of me, and he wanted me to know because, being the old-school guy he is, he never really talked about emotions or apologized much.Then he told me:“Hey man, I’m sorry.I didn’t know.I thought you needed discipline.You just needed my help.”I didn’t think much of it at first, but when I was alone later, I broke down and cried for a few minutes. I didn’t even realize how much I’d been carrying all my life until that moment. It was a relief I can’t really describe, like a weight was finally lifted off my shoulders. I felt lighter, like I physically weighed less.
Someone once told me, “You make people feel seen.” It hit me because it’s easy to go through life unnoticed, but knowing I could make someone feel valued—it stuck with me.
This is stupid, but I stopped relaxing my hair like 17 years ago, at a time when you’d catch grief from all sides for doing so. Everyone is telling you that you’re only pretty/acceptable/presentable when your hair has been chemically straightened, and your job is telling you that your natural hair is “unprofessional” (I was enlisted). One day I was rocking a straight lion’s mane at this gas station in some small-town pocket of Arkansas, the kind where I could have been the only black woman within an hour of any direction. This burly, tatted up Hell’s Angel’s looking biker dude walked past me and very genuinely said, ‘damn sister, I like your hair!’ and I really appreciated it. Didn’t expect it coming from him, is all, especially since it was coming from nowhere else.
I worked the front desk at a yoga studio/spa for a while. I loved it; interacting with all of the people that would come in gave me life. I didn’t realize how extroverted I actually was until I started working there. I got to know all the regulars, remembering everyone’s name and trying to make them all feel warm, welcome, and special. One day, one of the older regulars came in and handed me an envelope. He had typed me a letter that brought me to absolute tears, talking about how big my light was and how truly transformative my weekly welcome to him had been, as a person who had rarely felt welcome anywhere his whole life. At the time, I was struggling with a lot of my own darkness and the fact that I had any ounce of light was genuinely news to me. My heart needed that.
One night while in the newborn trenches with my son, I was struggling and crying. Just really emotional. I can’t remember exactly what I said, something about feeling ugly, and my husband who I had been with 10 years at that point told me “I have never been more attracted to you, watching you be a mom to our son is beautiful, you are beautiful “ and it plays in my head still on hard days.
My mom told me l was her lottery win in life.
I’m a mental health nurse. I was with my brother in a mall one time when an ex-patient walked up to me and greeted me warmly. We chatted about how his life was going. He seemed to be doing well. He said to me, “Hey do you remember that time when you had to restrain me and put me in seclusion? You were really gentle with me and got everyone to calm down and go easy on me”. He turned to my brother and said “Your brother is one of the good ones”.
“I want my daughter to grow up and be like you.“I was living/teaching Emirates in the UAE. My class, all men. So for a man in a patriarchal society to say that to an independent, unmarried, educated, western woman was a wow moment. I felt like I contributed to women around the world being seen, respected, and valued. 😊.
The boys in high school rated us girls and I was a 7/10. It’s always affected me. About 6 years later it came up at my work place for whatever reason and I said I was a 7. A sweetheart of a guy instantly, without missing a beat said, “Out of 7 though right?!“I went to the bathroom and cried. He has no idea how much he healed me with those words! 🥲 .
A couple of weeks ago, I was alone in a city i didn’t know, and I had my heart broken in a cafe. The waiter saw that i was upset and asked if I was ok I WEPT, she sat with me and talked to me while I had my coffees and I ordered something to eat. I went to pay and found out she had paid for all of it ( cried again ) it was nice to have someone to sit with.
I’m a Filipina and there was an elderly man in Miami with whom I struck up a conversation.He was gazing at my face and he said: So this is what your people look like. It’s like all the world combined.
“I think you’re going to be the reason a lot of people find hope again.”.
It was a small thing:I gave the lunch I had brought with me one winter weekday to a destitute man huddled near the locked front doors of a church. (I’d gone there to practice for a forthcoming organ recital.)He simply said, “Thank you - I haven’t had any food for about 3 days.“It seemed as though he was as starved for someone - anyone - to care about him as for the food itself.
“Wow he’s a human angel!” I fostered a puppy who was given up for adoption because she was apparently a bad dog. I took her in and just treated her like she was my own dog. She was adopted two weeks later and the pet adoption agency was shocked at her (positive) change of behavior.
My boyfriend once asked me to help him understand a certain topic, and it was a busy time for both of us, i had long hours of school and so did he. I could only teach him a very little portion which wasnt even countable in a span of 2 hours. I apologised to him saying i couldnt help him(he had a test on it the next day). He said “You tell what’s better? A person giving the 1K out of the 1K they had to someone in need, or a person who gives 1K out of the 1Mil they have?” i said i dont know since i didnt understand what he meant. he said “it’s the former since the person gave away all they had, and in the same way, you had 2 free hours which you could have used to sleep(we were sleep deprived), but you chose to help me. and that’s all that matters to me” and it’s the best thing i’ve ever heard.
My grandpa, on his deathbed, whispered, ‘You were my favorite’.
I was out with my kids at a restaurant on some daddy day care vibe.Wife needed a break.Kids were 1 and 3We were just having fun like we normally doIm running around feeding my daughter and son is helping.Older lady comes up to the table and says “She needed a break huh”I laughed and said yesShe put her hand on my shoulder and said “thank you “I said for whatShe said for reminding her what happiness looks likeThat f****d me up.
My good friend told me a few weeks before he succumbed to cancer that he was glad he knew me because i was “One of lifes good guys"That was 6 years ago now and i still think about it.
After a year of dating, my GF (we’re both in our 50’s, both lost our spouses to cancer a few years ago) said ‘I love you!’. I never thought I’d hear that again.
Someone once told me “No one else is going to live your life for you, make the choices that YOU want because only YOU are going to live with those choices.” That is now a core value in my life. It resonates so deeply I can’t explain how much those simple words touched me.
I almost failed out a semester once but spoke with my professor about my situation. i had a very very unfortunate semester and he didn’t realize the grade given meant i couldn’t move forward.he adjusted it and told me “i can’t wait for you to show everyone what you’re capable of” and it’s always stuck. he saw past a mentally bad semester and now shows up to all my final presentations!
“How can you be Icarus when you are the sun?“I welled up reading this when she sent it. It is the most kind and beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me, and I cherish the memory.
“We’re very proud to have you as a grandson.“I miss them both so much. Go hug your grandparents folks.
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“I don’t need to go home, i’m already there” my gf in reference to hanging out with me.
A coworker once told me, “You’re like everyone’s best friend.” I’m not sure why exactly that struck me so deep, I don’t even know if it was her intention, but it made me feel really happy to hear that my personality is so inviting and friendly to other people. And now that I’m leaving that job, seeing everyone sending me quick messages about how they’ll miss me has me believing that she was right about that too.
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“I don’t know where I’d be without you, you always know how to make everything better.”.
My best friend told me “Don’t change. That’s how you are, you always say something and everyone can’t help but laugh, and that’s what’s special about you”. It’s always made me tear up.
“What would I do without you?“It was a classmate who I was helping get through all her classes at school, and one day after I finished correcting her paper for a really important assignment, she looked me straight in the eyes and said it. It really touched me because nobody liked me at that school, and I had no friends at all, so it was very special to me.
I was getting picked on pretty bad in elementary school and finally one day I snapped and fought back to my bully. I felt really bad because I don’t like hurting people but f**k the chick wouldn’t leave me alone. I specifically remember my teacher telling me to “never feel bad for sticking up for yourself”. I’m in my 30s now and I still remember her saying that. And I have never let anyone else bully me again.
“You’re the only person i’ve ever felt genual connection with.. I don’t know how id live without you, ur just always here for me in my hardest times” That really melted my heart.
When my son,Bo, had a terrible car wreck and we were in the ICU for 10 days. I called my best friend for a pep talk. He told me that he knew I could do it and that I could do it with a smile. Then he told me the only person who would outshine me in that hospital would be Bo himself. It wasn’t a “you can do this”. It was a “you can do this and make it look easy”. It really made me realize my own strength. My son is all good now. Happy , healthy, and hard working.
“It’s a pleasure to teach you. Doesn’t require any work. Just drop some hints and you will get to the concept yourself.“From my Undergrad Maths professor. I was never a topper or even considered a good student.
It wasn’t said to me, and it has a bit of silly fandom about it, but the root of it was very sweet and I think about it often.My sister and I joke about our Hogwarts houses. I like to think I’m a Gryffindor, and my sister once said to my mom that she thinks it’s a good fit because to wake up every day and deal with what I deal with (mental health issues, chronic pain and disability), you have to be brave.We are very different people and don’t get along for long spans of time, but that was the nicest thing she ever said about me.
“What would make you feel safe right now?“After I put them through hell and my own father ask them those same words they still heard my own pain and repeated them back to me. Not even my parents have asked me that before, it was something my father and mother were learning in therapy together when everything between me and that person went down and thought I truely was the villain, they still asked me, cared and wanted me to feel and be safe. They knew I was hurting and lashing out just as they do sometimes and though they never had to be involved in my hurt and I pulled them into it anyways they still loved me and offered safety to me. I will never forget that or them. It lives in my mind.
My friend’s husband told his wife and then she told me, she’s (me) our family. Never felt that valued before-not even my own family.
My girlfriend recently texted me randomly during the day and said “you make it so easy for me to be happy no matter how hard it feels at times” and it’s just stuck with me.
Someone once told me that “the world would be a better place with more kind people like you.”.
Someone once told me, “You’ve shown me what patience looks like, and I’m learning to be patient with myself because of you.”.
You really brought me back from the dark. You are my savior.
I was recently told, “You’ve taught me what it means to love myself again, even when I couldn’t find the strength to do it on my own.“Despite times when I was unsure of my own worth, I somehow helped them find theirs. It hit me harder than I expected.
" Wow… you really have a beautiful mind” to the day, best thing I’ve heard.
Ive lost many friends and family in my life and a girl i was like on and off again with sent me this after my best friend of 32 years died tragically.“but i really have always admired how strong and sweet of a person you are in every unfair situation like this. Its such a big part of your character i really love.”.
I was going through a rough time in my life. I was talking to my brother about how I felt so worthless and unable to “keep up.” He said to me exactly what I needed to hear at that time: Be Kind to Yourself.
“I didn’t know I was built to make someone happy until I met you” - my husband shortly before he proposed.
I was talking with a friend and she asked me if I wanted to have kids someday. I said maybe, and she said, “well, I think you should, so that there can be more people that are like you in the world.”I was very touched.
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