Random kindness

Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Seems like anytime I do something people expect me to charge them. Example…..I plow snow for a handful of friends. So while I’m at it if I see a older person shoveling the pile from the end of the driveway I swing over and offer to move it. You should see the looks I get Anyway I just push the bulk of it and drive away.

Last storm before this I helped push a pregnant gal out that got stuck. See said twice ” I can’t afford to pay you” she couldn’t believe I wasn’t charging her.

So, maybe we all need to do more to help others so it doesn’t seem such a weird deal when we do it. I does make you feel good also.

Have a great weekend guys!!!!

Happened to me today as a matter of fact. Parts mgr at Luther Chev in Hudson gave me a free nice chevy can cooler from the display case when I stopped there to buy a part. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. It was cool.

Usually if someone offers me money for something like that I just tell them to lend a hand to someone in need the next time they get the opportunity. Always get a surprised look and about half the people say they definetly will. It kind of gives you that warm fuzzy feeling.

We had an elderly couple that lived in our neighborhood that I used to go over and bag their leaves in the fall for them. They never asked me to do it and I expected no payemnt. It wasn’t a big deal when I already had the mower / bagger, trailer and everything out anyway. Long story short, when I got home from work the next day, the phone was ringing as I walked in the door. Here it was my neighbor lady Judy, asking me if I could come over for a minute. She reassured me that everything was Ok and just stop over. She met me at the door with a fresh baked apple pie. This went on for several years. It was sure a sad day when they moved to a townhome.

I’ve snowblowed lots of driveways and raked lots of leaves for my elderly neighbors and others who needed a hand.I never expected anything in return. I hoped that maybe someday if I need a hand someone will help me out. “Pay it forward” would solve a lot of our society’s problems IMHO

Nice Job!!

It doesn’t hurt at all to help someone out. Theres a lady across the street and we didn’t see her for about 2 days and it was thanksgiving day and I noticed her walk wasn’t shoveled to her van. She can’t walk well and uses a cane so I went over and shoveled her walkway to her van, didn’t even knock on her door to tell her I was doing it.

She heard me shoveling and came to the door and said thats why she hasn’t gone anywhere and was house bound. I then asked her if she was going anywhere for thanksgiving and she said no and that surprised me because she has kids. I got home and told My wife what was going on and we fixed her enough food for 2 days, filled two plates heaping full. When I showed up at the door I asked her if she was hungry and with the look in her eyes I could tell the thanksgiving dinner looked pretty good to her. Her kids never did show up to shovel or take her to thanksgiving dinner.

I can’t believe her kids don’t care enough even to show up and see if shes ok, they live in town. Some people just don’t care about anyone but themselves.

Done the same thing hundreds of times over the years plowing. Takes a second to clear the plow ridge. I hope they remember the truck and number maybe next time they will call. It’s not always about the money.

Reading the heart warming post’s you guy’s have written goes a long way in helping restore my faith in humanity! Especially the one’s who wrote about treating elderly people with kindness! I am 76 year’s old and my wife and I are trying to get by living on Social Security! There is an old saying that state’s, “What goes around, come’s around!” Well I certainly hope that is true in the case of the guy that used to plow out my driveway! After the recent blizzard that dumped 17″ inche’s of snow on us, we found ourselve’s snowbound! That plowing guy refused to plow out our driveway because we didn’t have a season long plowing contract with him! Hell! I couldn’t afford one! And of course we would have expected to pay him for plowing us out this time! And it’s not like he would have had to make a special trip! He pretty much thumbed his nose at us after he had finished plowing our neighbor’s driveway and drove right by our’s as he left! I’m not out trolling for sympathy, it just felt so good to rant! Thank’s for tolerating me guy’s! DIRTBALL2

That’s the way us older guys were raised.Growing up a neighbor lady lost her husband and my brother and I were told that her lawn and driveway were now ours to take care of by our father.We did for years without ever giving a thought to asking for a dime.(did steal a six pack of Buckhorn beer once)
I moved away and my widowed mother had a hard time taking care of her home.A friend from my childhood found out and took care of her place for many years,all at his expense.
There is still good out there,we just don’t hear about it as often anymore because evil sells better.

I plow snow and many times I just plow out the pile the city plows put at the end of the driveway when I see someone shoveling the hard stuff. Just wave and move on to my next client.

Nice! Reminds me of my youth. Every fall some 70+ y/o farmer still farming would have health problems and everyone would bring there harvesters, trucks, etc & get ‘r done.

Couple things I’ve tried… Drive thru fast food. Pay for the car behind you.

Kwik trip, same idea… Be aware can be big coin.

Enjoy the vibes you get in return. Goes a long way to staying on the positive side of life versus wallowing thru the lows….

Believe it or not, I helped snow blow several neighbors driveways this winter, especially the ends where the snow bank gets deposited by the city plows.

I agree Stuart, we were told to do unto others as you want them to do unto you, and its always stuck with me. I’m not trying to connect ends but maybe those that don’t give a rats a-s about anyone but themselves might have been brought up that way, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit. I personally get a rush helping someone, even if its just once. The person that stated earlier that bad news travels faster then good news is right, But I know there’s a lot of people out there that do help people and I know they will never change.

Was leaving the liquor store up at West End when the line was getting backed up. There was a semi who couldn’t turn right because the oncoming cross traffic was stopping at the stop sign, but he needed to be able to swing into that lane to make the turn. Some older gentleman got out of his car and was able to get people to stop so the semi could move. Had he not done that, that semi might still be there.

I am positively delighted to learn that so many of you were raised in the same manner that I was! While growing up, I lived in the country out west of Cambridge. If there was any serious mishap that had happened to any of our neighbor’s, all 6 of us kid’s got immediate and strict order’s to head over to the neighbor’s and lend a hand! If you had known my parent’s, you would know that it was best not to argue! We didn’t think to question them We just thought that everybody did that. Now that I am an Auld Phart, I know the time has come that I better get around to paying back for the many blessing’s I’ve received in my life. Toward’s that end, I have volunteered to become a member of FarmRescue.org! RarmRescue is an organization that dispatch’s volunteer’s to any farmer that has gotten sick or has been injured in some way so that he has become unable to continue the work on his farm. I think it is a very worthwhile organization that was badly needed! DIRTBALL2

I’m going to do a little crowing on the fence here. Isn’t it kinda funny that all of us here are here for the same reasons. They say that ducks of a feather flock together and the leaders always stay in front to guide the way for the less experienced and also others that don’t care,,,

I’ve always have had the thought that there’s enough kindness in the world that enables us to see when things are wrong and sometimes things don’t seem like their going the right direction.

Another thing I’ve found out is the farther I stay away from those unproductive ways the better I feel and the better I feel about setting an example so others can find out too, then they can also lead the flock when us ault farts can’t lead anymore. Its better to be a wise guide then a follower in the dark. Well the suns coming up, going to fly down off the fence.

I would just like to add that sometimes the smallest of gestures can make another person’s day. I go to work the same way every morning and there is one place where there is a stop light with two lanes going each way. I noticed one day that when I caught the red light that there would always be a car or two behind me with their right turn signal on. The next day the light turned red I pulled over into the left lane. Many of the people turning right waved or smiled—including one young lady who’s smile made my day. It cost me nothing to change lanes but to the people going to the factory around the corner it meant something. To this day I always pull over and I am still getting smiles and people mouthing thank you. It probably makes my day more than theirs anymore.

The other day with the snow my neighbor was plowed it. She recently had surgery and was desperately trying to dig herself out with her hands. Needless to say I went out with a shovel and dug her out quick. Took me all of five minutes and she was so relieved. She was on her way to the drug store to pick up a prescription. This country was founded on looking out for your neighbors. Least I could do.

An older couple got a flat tire last week as they were driving by the Skeeter Boat Center in Ramsey. Luckily they decided to pull into the parking lot and get off of the highway. The SBC crew put the spare on and the couple was on their way in a few minutes.

Our whole neighbor hood is like this. 4 of us have snow blowers and when we got big snow falls this past winer we did the whole block. The neighbor right next to me was really nice and brought me a bag of fresh choc. chip cookies for it one weekend. That was nice being I have a 1 year old and a pregnant wife. They ate everyone one of them. The other neighbor is getting his knee done this spring in June. SO I am mowing his lawn for him until he can do it. Parents always taught us to help our older nieghbors. So no second thought here.

Random kindness happens more than you would think. I work at Aldi and often times there are people that can not afford their food for one reason or another. There are other customers that pay. This has happened 2 times in the past 7 days in just my line.
Many times the person is making phone calls trying to find out why they can not access money and I am approached by a customer that pays. Then I tell the other their food is taken care of. Most of the time it is a few dollars but I have had nearly $100 payed for.

I dig reading stories like these. Kudos to all of you !

I plow 3 driveways besides mine if needed. 2 are elderly folks and one is a guy who works long hours. I never expect or would take anything for doing so. It’s kind of funny but our neighborhood kind of runs on the barter system of sorts. NOTHING is expected for helping each other but help is always there if needed no strings attached.
Last winter I saw a neighbor lady down the road struggling to shovel her driveway. It was wet heavy stuff and she was having a hard go of things. I took my Honda with plow down there and started plowing her out. Come to find out she had just had back surgery and her son had a broken arm. When I was done, she offered me 20 bucks. Thanks but no thanks. If you want to pay me back then pay it forward and help someone else down the line. I said if you need help, I live down the street, just come and get me.I thought she was going to cry. A few days later there was a thank you card and a small ham at our front door. It wasn’t expected but it was appreciated.
That’s how I was raised though. If you see someone in need and you can help them out then do so expecting nothing in return.
Truth be told, I get more satisfaction from plowing a neighbors driveway or helping them with some chosre or project than any dollar amount I would recieve.

Some times it doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.

There was a fella that stopped by the resort this weekend that left a BIG soft peanutbutter cookie and the best sticky bun I’ve ever had.

No reason for him to do this.

I shared it with everyone at the resort….NOT!

Stopped for a bite to eat last night on my way home. Sat at the bar. When I paid my tab, I gave the bartender 10 bucks and said buy the next two people that sit down a drink. Happened to my wife at breakfast a couple weeks back when I was out of town. She went to pay and they said someone ahead of her already paid her bill.

Little things like that make people feel good.

Nice tip, pun intended.

The lord says, I may come to you as down trodden and in dispare and in need of help, treat him no different then me because I am him. It sounds like a few of us have listened

Ya John, there are alot of people who really do try. I went to the checkout after buying a coke to pay for it. The cashier said you don’t have to pay anything. In amazement and question I looked at her and she said ,,,look at the guy who just left and got into his car. I looked and he was a brother of another color then me, just a little darker but still was a brother. He looked like a guard for the Packers or the Vikings and it looked like this wasn’t the first time he did it. He pulled away before I could thank him. Another brother of color came up to my car and said,,,he just paid for my drink too and I said good people are everywhere and what comes around goes around, he just agreed with a big smile and said everythings cool,,,,in real life it is and always has been.

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Some times it doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.

There was a fella that stopped by the resort this weekend that left a BIG soft peanutbutter cookie and the best sticky bun I’ve ever had.

No reason for him to do this.

I shared it with everyone at the resort….NOT!

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You obviously must be a gourmand BrianK! Do you know the difference between a gourmet and a gourmand? A gourmet is a lover of fine food. A gourmand is a P-I-G Hawg! DIRTBALL2