Kind World

Among the tragic reports and images from the Boston Marathon...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:31:31 -0400

Among the tragic reports and images from the Boston Marathon bombings, another side of the story is emerging — that of the remarkable acts of kindness witnessed at the finish line. We’re looking for those stories. If you were affected by an act of kindness that occurred during the Boston Marathon bombings, comment below or e-mail kindworld@wbur.org.

Do you have a story to share?

CALLOUT: Your stories for the Kind World on-air debut

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:53:04 -0400

Hi everyone!

Nate Goldman here, creator of Kind World. We’re gearing up for the Kind World on-air debut, and we’re looking for some remarkable stories of kindness to produce. Do you have a story of kindness you’d like to share?

Just respond through this post with your story, or e-mail it to kindworld@wbur.org

So, what’s your story?

A Man Killed By Police In Brazil, And An Airline Employee Determined To Bring Him Home

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:04:00 -0500

In 2007 Joseph Martin was celebrating his 30th birthday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was a beautiful night. The streets were packed, and people of all kinds were out and about. But that didn’t stop the unthinkable from happening. After a verbal altercation with an off-duty police officer, Joseph was shot and killed. And just like that Joseph became a statistic — one of more than 11,000 people killed by police officers between 2003-2009 in the Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo districts of Brazil, according to Human Rights Watch.

Joseph’s aunt, Elizabeth Martin, was in Maine when this all happened. When she found out, she immediately went home and helped her sister with the difficult process of getting Joseph’s body shipped back home. Because his body was considered freight, the process was taking longer than usual. But through one airline employee’s kindness, a glint of light shone in an otherwise dark and painful time.

Transcript:

In 2007 my nephew Joseph was living in Brazil. He had been there for a few years. He was just enamored with the people, the culture, the language, and he was teaching English. And on may 25 he was celebrating his 30th birthday. It was a beautiful evening and people were outside, and he got into a verbal altercation with an off-duty policeman. And then this off-duty cop shot him, killed him, from about 16 feet away.

Joseph died in surgery that evening. Everything happened late, late at night. My sister found out that morning. The circumstances of my finding out were different because I was in northern Maine. And the game warden had to fly in by float plane and he told me that my nephew had died. I called one of my sisters and it was then that I found out Joe had been murdered.

I remember I threw the cell phone down and I started screaming. And I just fell on the ground and I just would take a deep breath and scream, and another deep breath and scream. It was as if my body could not contain that much pain.

A few days later, maybe as much as a week or more, we were waiting to get his body home and the logistics were complicated because shipping his body home meant shipping his body as freight - it was a coffin within a container. One of my sisters was monitoring his journey home and in Miami there was going to be a 10 hour delay before his body was going to be put on the next flight. And I remember one of my sisters was on the phone with the freight office in Miami and she was talking to an employee, and I overheard my sister say to the man, “His name is Joe. Can you please call him Joseph, not ‘freight.’” I suspect it was painful for him to hear, but the employee then apologized and then he asked my sister to hold, and he came back and he said “We got Joseph on the next flight out.”

And I really like thinking about that man at work in Miami. Clearly he was listening to my sister…but really listened, because he heard her pain. And her her the point. She wanted Joseph home. And he did that. He helped get Joseph home. He helped return a child home to his family.

And I will never forget that night getting a phone call from my sister, and she said, “I have good news. Joseph is home.”

Since Joseph’s killing, Elizabeth Martin has become an outspoken advocate for exposing police brutality and police violence in Brazil. She is the founder of Brazil Police Watch.

An Anonymous Envelope Saves The Holidays For A Young, Struggling Mother

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:56:00 -0500

18 years ago, Kim Ross was juggling two part-time jobs, a college curriculum, and caring for a 10 year old daughter. “It was a difficult time for us,” she says. Paying the bills wasn’t always easy either, especially during the holidays when Kim would try to save up enough money to get her daughter something special. But one year, an anonymous envelope she found in her mailbox turned what could’ve been an especially difficult holiday season into one she remembers to this day.

Transcript:

I was about 27/28 years old, and at that time my daughter was 10. I had decided I was going to go back to college, and I was also working two part time jobs. So it was really, it was just a tough time for us. So it was Christmas time and it’s always a difficult time of year in terms of trying to come up with enough money to try and get what your children what they’re asking for and provide them with a nice Christmas but also, you know, be able to meet the bills.

So one day I came home from school, and I found a card in the mail and it didn’t have a return address on it. It just had my name and my address and so it was a little strange. And then I opened it up and the card said, “Happy Christmas to you and your daughter” and inside the card was $100.

You know, it’s almost one of those knee-buckling moments where you’re just like “Wow. Really? Me?” I just couldn’t believe that somebody else from the outside was looking in and had seen the struggle I was having, and had thought enough to just send this money with absolutely no strings attached. Just, here, I see what you’re going through and I value that. It was just…it was really nice.

Tracking The Ripple Effect Of Kindness

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:03:43 -0500

It was a busy Saturday afternoon just before Christmas. I was the third person in line at the cash register at Trader Joe’s in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The first person in line was an elderly woman who was having a pleasant conversation with the cashier while helping to pack her 3 bags of groceries. Behind her, and in front of me, was an athletic looking, middle-aged man. Just before the elderly woman retrieved her wallet to pay, the man struck up a quiet conversation with the woman and the cashier. When I saw the elderly woman’s eyes tear up as she gently patted the man’s back, I thought that I had witnessed an act of kindness and generosity. Once the man had left the store I asked the cashier to confirm what I thought I had seen: the man unexpectedly paying for the woman’s groceries. She told me that was exactly what had happened. We both expressed gratitude for having witnessed this kindness; and I reflected on this all day.

When I returned home my daughter Emily had just arrived from New York to celebrate the holidays. I was full of excitement and emotion when I told her the Trader Joe’s story, and she was just as moved as I was. Emily is hard to keep up with because she travels around the globe for a literacy project at Columbia University. She had just returned from Singapore so she was really raking up the frequent flyer miles that give her a shot at upgrading her seat to first class. I know it sounds decadent to travel first class but when you live in the air and in hotels, it is a great time to catch up on lagging sleep. When Emily left after Christmas, the Trader Joe’s incident stayed with her. When she got to Logan Airport to head for the west coast she was not even close to the top of the list for an upgrade but was given a comfortable bulkhead seat at the front of coach. Once she was settled in, a flight crew commotion that halted the boarding progress occurred when a woman in a wheelchair was being shuttled to row 25. Emily offered the woman her seat to be able to have more room and took the woman’s seat in row 25. After about 10 minutes had passed a flight attendant walked over to Emily in row 25 and offered her a first class seat.

I believe the positive energy created by the man at Trader Joe’s had an amazing ripple effect for a lot of people. Thank you to that athletic, middle-aged man in line at Trader Joe’s.

Story submitted by Susan DeLiddo
Photo credit: Scarlatti2004/Flickr

Strangers Come To Honeymooners’ Rescue After Car Flips

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:22:00 -0500

For their honeymoon, Steve Brykman and his wife decided to travel cross-country in their camper. When they reached Wyoming, they decided to take the scenic route, traveling up the Big Horn mountains to catch the view. Seeing as it was September, they thought nothing of it. But as they traveled up the mountain, the weather began to take a turn for the worse. A freak snow storm, they called it. Complete white-out. Then they lost control of the camper, and began traveling down the narrow mountain roads backwards. They flipped over. Fortunately, the roads weren’t empty and the actions of several strangers turned what would have been a nightmare honeymoon into a remarkable story of kindness.

Transcript:

My wife and I were on our honeymoon and we had this souped up ‘84 Westy camper and we decided that we were going to travel across the country for our honeymoon in the camper. And we got to Wyoming, and this was the first week in September and so we decided to take the scenic route which went up into the Big Horn mountains. So we started heading up those mountains, and then it started to rain a little, and then it starts to get cold, and rain starts to freeze on the windshield, hindering our vision. And then it begins to snow. I remember cattle heading down the mountain, which probably should’ve been our first indication we should’ve been out of there. And within like 5 minutes we were in a complete white-out, and it became clear this was going to be just a complete disaster. And then a gust of wind just hit the side of the camper, which is basically just a giant rectangle, and actually spun the camper entirely around so that we were traveling down this mountain backwards. I’m not a very religious person but I remember saying like ‘Okay, God! It’s up to you! It’s your call!” It seemed like forever, but it was probably a few seconds later that we hit the side of the road and rolled the camper upside down on the side of the road that happened to have a side to it. Because on the other side of the road it was just a sheer cliff face. And wound up stopping upside down, and we had to get out of it upside down. My wife, who’s a much quicker thinker than I am was able to hop into the road. I remember thinking like “oh wow that’s amazing that she was able to get all the wedding gifts out of the car and arrange them on the road like that.” Of course, she didn’t. They had just flown out of the vehicle. Fortunately, a car came within 5 or 10 minutes and the guy stopped, and he was training to be a fireman so we knew we were in good hands. And he helped us pack up his car with whatever we needed, and took us down the mountain in the Lovell, Wyoming. And we did go to the hospital and get checked out. We were okay. And the nurse drove us back to the hotel, so I asked her how do we get out of here? The nearest car rental place is out in Cody, Wyoming which is 50-60 miles from where we were. So the nurse was like ‘well I’m going that way anyway so I’ll give you a ride.” So I don’t think she was ‘going that way anyway,’ I think she was just doing it to be nice and to help us get on with our honeymoon.

This experience taught me that there’s always going to be somebody to help you no matter where you are. Because, I mean, we were in the middle of nowhere on a mountain in the middle of a freak snowstorm and here’s a fireman in training coming to our rescue. But there it is.

Photo courtesy of Steve Brykman

With Help From Neighbors, A Struggling Family Starts A Holiday Tradition

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:12:00 -0500

Living in poverty can generate stories of kindness, a certain quality of which—I imagine—cannot be experienced by even the slightly well-to-do. As a child, I was struck by my mother’s accounts of her family’s meager Christmases, which colored my sense of the meaning of the holiday. But for a middle-class, second-generation American child, those images—though lasting—could be, at best, a mere copy of the original.

My mother, Rose Vettraino, grew up in the 1920’s, Rosina Fucinari, the third of six children of southern Italian immigrants living on St. Joseph Street in Detroit, Michigan. They were good Catholics; Christmas was a time of religious observance and not what we think of today as celebration. Though her mother masterfully prepared traditional Italian dishes for the holidays, to her father, Christmas trees, decorations, and gifts were an inconceivable extravagance. As for my mother and her siblings, the trappings of Christmas amounted to what the Goodfellows wagon delivered on a few Christmas mornings:

Six children crowded in the window each year, noses pressed up against the glass, to wait and see if their house was on the driver’s list. If so, each child would receive a red and green box, inside which he or she would find the following: a doll or a toy, a pair of cotton stockings or socks, perhaps a sweater or undergarment, a gift certificate for what my Aunt Esther recalls as an “ugly but well-made” pair of school shoes, and a little box of Sander’s hard candy. And the way my mom tells it, they were just thrilled.

But none of that happened until my mother was, herself, old enough to write to the Goodfellows and ask to have her family put on the list. Until then, there were no red and green boxes, no dolls, not even an ugly pair of school shoes. In fact, my mother’s earliest memory of holiday kindness was given her by the Spezia family, from northern Italy, who lived two doors down and owned one of only two cars in the neighborhood:

One Christmas they brought home a tree too tall to fit in their living room. So they cut off the top and delivered it, along with a few simple ornaments, to my mother’s family. Not wishing to insult their well-reputed neighbors, her father had no choice but to accept the offering. (I can only imagine the excitement that must have filled the house for having their very first Christmas tree, tiny branch though it was.) And it didn’t end there; while the children were still young, the Spezia family continued the practice of bringing home too-tall Christmas trees so that they could lob off the top and bring it to the Fucinari children.

While accepting of this kind gesture, my grandfather’s attitude toward celebrating Christmas changed little. As the children grew, the household reverted back to a quiet, tree-less and undecorated holiday.

Then, some years later, my mother would conspire with her older brother, Guido, to bring Christmas back into the house.

By walking to school, they saved up the bus nickels their father had given them until, finally, Guido had enough to purchase a little Christmas tree while my mother went to the store for some bulbs. Resting on the sofa as my mother attempted to sneak by him with her bag of dime-store ornaments, her father said nothing, allowing them to erect a Christmas tree of their own for the first time in their lives. Thus, the kindness of his silence conspired with them. Guido and Rose went about the business of decorating the tree without a word, having begun what became a holiday tradition in the Fucinari household every year thereafter.

Kindness may spring from charity, spontaneity, thoughtfulness. But the most surprising gesture of kindness, and which finally said so much to my mother, came—after a long period of ripening—without word or deed.

Story submitted by Camille V.
(Photo credit)

I still check this site every day in hopes of some uplifting news. Are you still there? Also, I submitted a story for Christmas. Any chance of it getting posted in time?

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:23:45 -0500

I’m still here, indeed! Now that the new year has come around, I’m working on getting some more stories to feature. And yes I did get your Christmas story! It was beautiful. Check your e-mail :)

Let the new year be a kind one! Have you been affected by a...

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:58:28 -0500

Let the new year be a kind one! Have you been affected by a stranger’s random act of kindness? I’m looking for more stories to feature on Kind World! Just leave a message on the Kind World voicemail line, and it may be featured right here on the blog. I hope to hear your stories!

The Best Of Kind World

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 12:49:00 -0500

Back in July, we launched this digital experiment called “Kind World.” In it, we explore people’s experiences with random acts of kindness. Over the last several months, we’ve collected dozens of stories and featured many of them right here on our Tumblr.

So, to capture the warmth of the season, we compiled our favorite Kind World stories — each one demonstrating the overwhelming goodness that exists in the world. From a man buying a retail manager’s entire staff a cup of coffee during the hectic holiday sales season to a woman with mitochondrial disease helping a man stuck in his New York City apartment during Superstorm Sandy, these stories detail the human experiences that may not necessarily make the news, but are just as important to share.

Press the play button below to listen to the full compilation.

If I submit a story by voice mail will you publish a text version or are contributors encouraged to do both?

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:53:08 -0500

Any voice mail I receive and produce, I will always attach a transcript to. So the text version is something I include in each audio post. Thanks for the question, and I hope to hear your story come in! The number is 617-651-0909.

-Nate

Apology For The Delay In Stories

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:24:14 -0500

Hey everybody - I just wanted to send out a note apologizing for the lack of content coming out of here lately. My time has been sucked up with another project that is set to end early next week, so don’t you fret - Kind World will be back soon with more wonderful stories!

In the meantime, if you have a story to tell about an act of kindness that had an affect on you, record it on our voicemail line at 617-651-0909. Thanks!

-Nate

Friends, Family, And Strangers Come Together After House Fire

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:08:34 -0500

We had a horrible house fire last October. Devastated, not knowing yet what, if anything, could be replaced or repaired, I posted the incident on my Facebook Page. Within an hour, offers of help, food, a place to stay, a car to drive, came in from many people (including our banker and insurance agent). All of them followed through with their offers. There are a lot of good people out there; sometimes it takes a near tragedy to recognize it.

Our house was repaired and new furniture delivered the day before Christmas, another miracle wrought by our out-of-work contractor friends, who also received a wonderful Christmas gift in the form of payment because of our insurance company and bank.

Without doubt, there are angels among us.

Story by: Kathryn Burke
Photo by: f2n_downtown

Hurricane Sandy Knocks Out A Disabled Man's Breathing Machine And A Heartwarming Journey To Save Him Unfolds

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:57:00 -0500

Crystal Evans has never met Nick Dupree. Nick lives in the Tribeca area of Manhattan and Crystal lives in Boston. The only time they speak is to share advice and stories on an online forum dedicated to people with mitochondrial disease - a disease they both share.

Nick, however, has a much more severe case than Crystal, and though they are both wheelchair bound, Nick’s disease requires him to be on a feeding tube and ventilator. So when Superstorm Sandy approached, and New York City slowly began to lose power, Crystal immediately thought of Nick. So, as one does, she opened up her Facebook to see if Nick was okay. Turns out, she was right to be worried. Nick had posted that his power had gone out, and the nurses who usually help him couldn’t get into the city because all public transit had been suspended.

Nick only had so many hours before all of his equipment would shut off. And that’s when Crystal sprung to action, organizing a massive effort to save Nick Dupree.

Transcript coming soon.

Photo credit: Jonathan Percy

Superstorm Sandy was devastating. Hundreds of thousands are...

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:36:59 -0400

Superstorm Sandy was devastating. Hundreds of thousands are without power and millions in the northeast are still coming to terms with what happened. But we know that it is in moments like these people come together and help one another. Let’s get these stories out to the world.

If you have a story about an act of kindness someone did for you during the storm or its aftermath, please send us a message, or call 617-651-0909 and record your story. Thanks, and stay safe!

Picking Up A Hitchhiker Leads To Lesson In Humility

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:56:00 -0400

So I never pick up hitch-hikers as a rule. I don’t know what moved me to do so today. I was heading from North Platte to Brady and he was just outside of North Platte. He jumped in and said “thanks for stopping”. I said no problem, I’m going to Brady about 23 miles up the road, and I’ll take you that far.

As we were conversing, I noticed he reeked of booze. I also noticed his wrinkled, sun darkened face, his shoddy hair and clothes, unshaven face, and only the clothes on his back.

But what I noticed most was his piercing, large blue eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and I believe it, if you look closely, you can pretty much tell the kind of soul a person has through their eyes. His eyes were almost indescribable. They were so mesmerizing, not an ounce of hate in them. Looking at his very rough exterior, I could tell he’d been down a very hard road. Somehow, despite the road he had been down, there was no hate in his eyes…only love.

I asked him if he wanted a smoke, and he said yes, so I gave him one, then I let him keep the whole pack, for which he seemed genuinely grateful for. I started asking him where he was from, where he was headed, does he have family, etc. He proceeded to tell me he had been on the road for 6 days, coming from Arizona where he had recently had a heart attack and heart surgery. He was pretty much healed up but couldn’t find work. He had his bed roll and backpack stolen in Colorado. He was heading back to his birthplace of Kansas City, Mo., which is where I was born as well. He said he lost his wife to a brain tumor 10 years ago, and she is buried in Norman, Oklahoma. He said he never had kids because his wife couldn’t have any. He had no family aside from cousins, whom he’d lost, touch with over the years. We talked the rest of the way about politics, and other superficial stuff, all the while, my gut was telling me there was something about this guy that I couldn’t put my finger on, but it was something special.

The whole time I was kind of reflecting on some of my own hard times and struggles, some of which were self induced. I mean, here is a homeless man that just had heart surgery, but was smoking and drinking. I too, have had my battles with alcohol and drugs, so I understand. I found myself thinking “but for the Grace of God, there go I.” And that’s the truth. I’m lucky to have what I have after what I’ve been through, let alone lucky to be alive.

So we get to Brady and I say “well, this is the end of my line.” He says, “I really appreciate the ride and the cigarettes.” To which I replied, “no problem, when we stop, I’m going to give you some money too.” (A decision I had subconsciously made miles back down the road.) He said thank you, I can get a cup of coffee or something…

The reason for sharing this story is because of the look in his eyes when we parted ways. As I mentioned, I told him I was going to give him some money. I was thinking maybe $20 bucks. When I reached in my wallet, something compelled me to pull out a $50 dollar bill. I handed him the 50, and he looked at me with those piercing blue eyes surrounded by that weathered face with a look of astonishment that I can’t describe, but I found myself fighting back tears. He was obviously both surprised and genuinely grateful. He struggled to say thank you, and he shook my hand. I said you’re welcome brother, best of luck to you. He got out of the vehicle and before he shut the door he looked at me with those eyes again, as if he was looking into MY soul, and said, ” thanks again, you really don’t know what this means to me.” I said, “you have no idea what it means to me!”

As I drove off I was in tears because I was so touched. You see, I felt as though I just handed myself $50. I always pray that I can be of use to my fellow man, and I believe that God puts people in our lives for a reason. The Bible also says give and you shall receive. What I received today was a small miracle from a homeless man with blue eyes that reminded me there is still some good in this world, that I have a lot to be grateful for. Honestly, I don’t think the money or the cigarettes meant nearly as much to him as receiving a smile, and a display of genuine kindness in what can be such a cold, cruel world. As for the $50 bucks, and can I afford it? Who cares? For my $50, I too, received a smile, and a genuine display of kindness that was worth every penny. I am truly touched, I almost feel like I was looking into the eyes of my higher power. In a sense, I was, because he is out there, all I have to do is look

Just a comment: I am having an unusually difficult bout with depression right now. When I awaken each and every morning, I am greeted instantaneously by fear, anxiety, and a sense of doom that hangs over me for the first 4 or 5 hours of each day. I survive by finding ways to distract myself from thinking about the environment and the UNkind world out there. And now that I've discovered "Kind World," I find it is pure blessing. Just wanted you to know. Might even offer a story of my own soon.

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 10:31:18 -0400

It’s notes like these that make stopping this project inconceivable to me. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!

Stranded After September 11th, A Stranger Offers Help

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:41:00 -0400

Angelique Tung flew from San Francisco to New York City on September 10th for a business meeting. The next morning, she entered the South Tower of the World Trade Center a little after 8AM. Then the first plane hit. She was told to evacuate, and while making her way down the stairwell to the ground floor the second plane hit. She made it to the ground safely, but come night time had no where she could sleep. Her hotel was impossible to enter due to its proximity to Ground Zero. So she went to visit a colleague’s family in Rye, New York. There, a small act of kindness occurred that, in any other situation, might’ve been overlooked. But for Angelique, it meant everything.

Transcript coming soon.

After A Woman Loses Her Home, A Family Brings Her In

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:12:00 -0400

Shelley Fitzgerald is from Westford, Massachusetts and this past Spring she lost her home. Unsure of where to go or what to do, something wonderful happened. A family she barely knew offered their motor home for her to stay in, for free, for as long as she needed. Regularly, they would check in on her, and welcomed her into their family with open arms. Listen to Shelley’s story below.

Transcript:

This Spring I lost my house, I was too depressed to work, and somebody I barely knew offered to let me live in their motorhome in their driveway, and had come over and check on me, and kind of included me in their family. It made all the difference in the world, it was just an amazing thing. And I’m doing much better today, and 95% of it is because of the people who helped me out.

Tell Your Story About A Random Act Of Kindness

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:40:25 -0400

I’m looking for more stories to feature on Kind World! So if you have a story about a random act of kindness, just leave a message on our voicemail (phone number on the picture above) and I may feature you on the site. Thanks so much!

PS - be sure to leave your name and where you’re from too :)

-Nate