People

<p>Being kind to someone you&#39;ve never met and may never meet again is a wholly selfless act, which is why we all love a story of a wholesome encounter with a total stranger. Because we can all use a little extra faith in humanity these days.</p><h2>In a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/s19c8m/whats_your_wholesome_experience_with_a_stranger/" target="_blank">popular Reddit thread, someone asked</a>: &quot;What&#39;s your wholesome experience with a stranger?&quot;</h2><p>These stories are a reminder that talking to strangers isn&#39;t <em>always</em> a bad idea (but still, be careful!!!!!!!! Because they might try to rob you, or worse, make boring small-talk....)</p><p>1.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/swasti13_/">swasti13_</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was once walking down an empty street late at night alone to find my dog. A stranger who was heading home stopped to help me find my dog and didn&#39;t leave until I found him.</p> </blockquote><p>As the saying goes, don&#39;t judge a tiny old church looking lady by its cover!</p><p>2.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BugabooMS/">BugabooMS</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Once when I was still in my &quot;paint it black&quot; 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.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>&quot;You are so tall, my darling! And so very pretty!&quot; (Rough translation.) This tiny ass 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.</p> </blockquote><p>This next story is basically the perfect human encounter. No notes.</p><p>3.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kazakthespacepupper/">kazakthespacepupper</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I was crossing the street in between the crosswalks, so like at the middle of the block, and this much older Chinese man who was doing food delivery on a bicycle was also crossing but from the opposite side. We kind of came like diagonally at each other and couldn&#39;t decide who should move over to let the other pass so we wound up standing face-to-face with each other and not moving for like 10 seconds, and then we both just bursted out laughing and went our separate ways lol.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>It was such a perfect, comically human moment that for some reason I feel lucky to have shared with a stranger. Here are two people who couldn&#39;t be more different from one another, and for a single moment in time, and without exchanging a single word, we totally understood each other.</p> </blockquote><p>And you never know when you may find yourself part of the world&#39;s smallest, most wholesome biker gang.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>4.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lookssharp/">lookssharp</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>There is an older guy that rides his bike the same route as me. Every time we see each other we race. I ride fixed, he&#39;s a roadie. We don&#39;t even really talk to each other, we just race. I haven&#39;t seen him a long time, but I was driving one day and saw him riding a fixed gear bike and I got all excited.</p> </blockquote><p>Children should never approach adults they don&#39;t know in public. Except in rare scenarios. Like these ones:</p><p>5.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Imaginary_Prior/">Imaginary_Prior</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>When I was 5, I saw a woman standing with a priest in a graveyard. I was curious because she was crying and I didn&rsquo;t yet understand death. I went up to her and held her hand for little over an hour. She told me she would&rsquo;ve been blessed to have a son like me with her husband. I later figured out he died and they were both all alone. Very sad and wholesome at the same time. I think about it every day.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>6.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mejok/">mejok</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Once I was walking home from work and saw this little girl, probably like 8 or 9 years old standing on the sidewalk. She was alone, crying and looked distressed. I asked if she needed help and she told me that her band practice or whatever had ended early but she couldn&#39;t call her mom to come pick her up because some bullies had stolen her cell phone.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>I live in a busy city and felt bad because people were just walking by and not helping her. Luckily she knew her mom&#39;s number so I called her mom, explained the situation, gave her the phone so that she could talk to her mom and then waited there with her until her mom got there to pick her up.</p> </blockquote><p>7.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/-eDgAR-/">-eDgAR-</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>When I was a kid we didn&#39;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&#39;d gone through them all.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>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, &quot;Promise me that you&#39;ll keep reading.&quot; 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.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>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.</p> </blockquote><p>Interacting with your seatmate on an airplane is a risk, as it can go very badly. Or, like in this emotional story, it can be a lifesaver.</p><p>8.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AhhhItsMe/">AhhhItsMe</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>In February 2020, I met an angel. I still think about him. Here&#39;s the story.</p> <p>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&#39;t say anything.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>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&#39;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&#39;ve spent the flight silently crying and being in my head. He made that two-hour flight bearable.</p> </blockquote><p>The best strangers let you stand under their umba-rella ella ella ay ay ay (is this a timely cultural reference?)</p><p>9.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mouryo/">mouryo</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was crying dramatically in the rain at a crosswalk over some dumb thing I don&rsquo;t even remember, and this old man who stopped at the same crosswalk stood next to me and slowly raised his umbrella for me and walked across the road with me. I was crying hard and couldn&rsquo;t get a thank you out tho, I hope he&rsquo;s doing fine.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>10.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/IllustriousAd6999/">IllustriousAd6999</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Had come back after a football game to my dorm and was playing some games. Had to use the bathroom and saw some chicks. They were cute and it was obvious they were intoxicated. I came back to my room and unpaused my game. About five minutes later I get a knock. It was the cute girl. Again, knowing she was drunk, I knew to not do anything. So I was honestly trying to get her to leave lmao. But she stayed at my door and started drawing on my door whiteboard.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>She asked me my name and I gave her it and she drew a massive penis and said &ldquo;This is [my names] dick&rdquo; I laughed and she took my phone and added her number to my phone. I went to bed that night and woke up to a text from her. A year later and we&rsquo;ve become really good friends. Strange, but fun story nonetheless.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>Wild that there was a time in history when you could be within six feet of a total stranger without risking your life or theirs?!</p><p>11.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Mister_JayB/">Mister_JayB</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was in the nursing home visiting my wife&#39;s grandmother. Our son was about 8 months old. An elderly lady who couldn&#39;t speak was very interested in our kiddo and motioned to let her hold him. I figured why not and let her hold him for a few minutes (with us hovering over her as she was frail and couldn&#39;t speak). The joy in her eyes broke my heart a bit. IDK what memories that brought back for her but I could tell it really made her day.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Maybe not my best move as a parent, letting some stranger hold my kiddo, but something in me just told me she needed a little love at that moment and the way she gestured us after was in a way that showed she really appreciated us letting her have a moment with our little one. (this was pre covid btw)</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>12.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/nzdanni/">nzdanni</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was in the supermarket years ago and the operator scanned a pack of biscuits that wasn&#39;t mine. It was the only thing the guy behind me was ordering so I was like meh, i&#39;ll just pay it. It wasn&#39;t a big deal at the time and it was like $1. I randomly bumped into that guy about month later on the bus and he had felt so warmed by the experience. He said he went to the petrol station on the way home from the supermarket and there was a guy who&#39;s card declined and couldn&#39;t pay for his gas, so he had paid it for him as a way of paying it forward. It was cool to think that what started off so small and irrelevant could spawn into something more wholesome.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>13.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/schwarzmalerin/">schwarzmalerin</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>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&#39;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.</p> </blockquote><p>14.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/indianamale7/">indianamale7</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I received a letter from the parent of a guy (inmate) at the prison where I worked. It said &ldquo;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. &ldquo;</p> <p>Very few people take time to do this and it made my day.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>15.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/manualpropulsion/">manualpropulsion</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I once demonstrated how the hand controls on my minivan worked for a group of Buddhist monks. I was in the airport parking garage when about a dozen of them watched me get into the driver&#39;s seat and load my wheelchair in. One monk approached and politely asked how I drove. I showed how the controls were connected to the pedals and how to push down to accelerate, in for brake. They murmured and nodded as I revved the engine, then thanked me and wished me a good day. Their smiles were very kind and genuine, it was a nice experience and a good memory.</p> </blockquote><p>Even a small gesture can impact someone&#39;s life for a very long time.</p><p>16.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/00TooMuchTime00/">00TooMuchTime00</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I was waiting tables and a younger woman was taking her son out to dinner. At the time, I was unaware of their financial situation. I lived with my parents at the time and made plenty of cash the night before.</p> <p>She was very nice and sweet and I overheard her son asking for a big dessert. He wasn&rsquo;t bratty or anything.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>We give a free desert for birthdays but he wanted a big one. So I decided to buy their desert.</p> <p>Couple moments after that decision I said screw it, and bought their whole meal.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>She left me a note which is one of the nicest things I&rsquo;ve ever read. I&rsquo;m not a picture guy so I&rsquo;m glad I posted it on Reddit. You can read it if you&rsquo;d like.</p> <p>When I&rsquo;m bummed out I read that note and remember I don&rsquo;t suck.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>There are certain instances where cat-calling is okay and this is one of them.</p><p>17.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/alfredpennyworth04/">alfredpennyworth04</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was walking out of a pro soccer game on a side walk near a busy road. My girlfriend was closest to the road and all I did was move her away from the road and take her spot. These older guys in a car driving by rolled the windows of their down and yelled at me &ldquo;that was very chivalrous and we love it!&rdquo;</p> <p>Scared the crap out of me for a second but it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ll remember for a long time!</p> </blockquote><p>This next story is a reminder of exactly how and why &quot;pay it forward&quot; works.</p><p>18.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/pineappledaddy/">pineappledaddy</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>A long time ago a woman&#39;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&#39;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.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>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&#39;t need the money.</p> <p>I randomly received a text a few years later that said, &quot; I finally paid it forward&quot;.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>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.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

18 people share the most surprisingly wholesome encounter they've had with a stranger.

Being kind to someone you&#39;ve never met and may never meet again is a wholly selfless act, which is why we all love a story of a wholesome encounter with a total stranger. Because we can all use a little extra faith in humanity these days.In a popular Reddit thread, someone asked: &quot;What&#39;s your wholesome experience with a stranger?&quot;These stories are a reminder that talking to strangers isn&#39;t always a bad idea (but still, be careful!!!!!!!! Because they might try to rob you, or worse, make boring small-talk....)1.) From swasti13_: I was once walking down an empty street late at night alone to find my dog. A stranger who was heading home stopped to help me find my dog and didn&#39;t leave until I found him. As the saying goes, don&#39;t judge a tiny old church looking lady by its cover!2.) From BugabooMS: Once when I was still in my &quot;paint it black&quot; 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.  &quot;You are so tall, my darling! And so very pretty!&quot; (Rough translation.) This tiny ass 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. This next story is basically the perfect human encounter. No notes.3.) From kazakthespacepupper: I was crossing the street in between the crosswalks, so like at the middle of the block, and this much older Chinese man who was doing food delivery on a bicycle was also crossing but from the opposite side. We kind of came like diagonally at each other and couldn&#39;t decide who should move over to let the other pass so we wound up standing face-to-face with each other and not moving for like 10 seconds, and then we both just bursted out laughing and went our separate ways lol.  It was such a perfect, comically human moment that for some reason I feel lucky to have shared with a stranger. Here are two people who couldn&#39;t be more different from one another, and for a single moment in time, and without exchanging a single word, we totally understood each other. And you never know when you may find yourself part of the world&#39;s smallest, most wholesome biker gang.4.) From lookssharp: There is an older guy that rides his bike the same route as me. Every time we see each other we race. I ride fixed, he&#39;s a roadie. We don&#39;t even really talk to each other, we just race. I haven&#39;t seen him a long time, but I was driving one day and saw him riding a fixed gear bike and I got all excited. Children should never approach adults they don&#39;t know in public. Except in rare scenarios. Like these ones:5.) From Imaginary_Prior: When I was 5, I saw a woman standing with a priest in a graveyard. I was curious because she was crying and I didn&rsquo;t yet understand death. I went up to her and held her hand for little over an hour. She told me she would&rsquo;ve been blessed to have a son like me with her husband. I later figured out he died and they were both all alone. Very sad and wholesome at the same time. I think about it every day. 6.) From mejok: Once I was walking home from work and saw this little girl, probably like 8 or 9 years old standing on the sidewalk. She was alone, crying and looked distressed. I asked if she needed help and she told me that her band practice or whatever had ended early but she couldn&#39;t call her mom to come pick her up because some bullies had stolen her cell phone.  I live in a busy city and felt bad because people were just walking by and not helping her. Luckily she knew her mom&#39;s number so I called her mom, explained the situation, gave her the phone so that she could talk to her mom and then waited there with her until her mom got there to pick her up. 7.) From -eDgAR-: When I was a kid we didn&#39;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&#39;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, &quot;Promise me that you&#39;ll keep reading.&quot; 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. Interacting with your seatmate on an airplane is a risk, as it can go very badly. Or, like in this emotional story, it can be a lifesaver.8.) From AhhhItsMe: In February 2020, I met an angel. I still think about him. Here&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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&#39;ve spent the flight silently crying and being in my head. He made that two-hour flight bearable. The best strangers let you stand under their umba-rella ella ella ay ay ay (is this a timely cultural reference?)9.) From mouryo: I was crying dramatically in the rain at a crosswalk over some dumb thing I don&rsquo;t even remember, and this old man who stopped at the same crosswalk stood next to me and slowly raised his umbrella for me and walked across the road with me. I was crying hard and couldn&rsquo;t get a thank you out tho, I hope he&rsquo;s doing fine. 10.) From IllustriousAd6999: Had come back after a football game to my dorm and was playing some games. Had to use the bathroom and saw some chicks. They were cute and it was obvious they were intoxicated. I came back to my room and unpaused my game. About five minutes later I get a knock. It was the cute girl. Again, knowing she was drunk, I knew to not do anything. So I was honestly trying to get her to leave lmao. But she stayed at my door and started drawing on my door whiteboard.  She asked me my name and I gave her it and she drew a massive penis and said &ldquo;This is [my names] dick&rdquo; I laughed and she took my phone and added her number to my phone. I went to bed that night and woke up to a text from her. A year later and we&rsquo;ve become really good friends. Strange, but fun story nonetheless. Wild that there was a time in history when you could be within six feet of a total stranger without risking your life or theirs?!11.) From Mister_JayB: I was in the nursing home visiting my wife&#39;s grandmother. Our son was about 8 months old. An elderly lady who couldn&#39;t speak was very interested in our kiddo and motioned to let her hold him. I figured why not and let her hold him for a few minutes (with us hovering over her as she was frail and couldn&#39;t speak). The joy in her eyes broke my heart a bit. IDK what memories that brought back for her but I could tell it really made her day.  Maybe not my best move as a parent, letting some stranger hold my kiddo, but something in me just told me she needed a little love at that moment and the way she gestured us after was in a way that showed she really appreciated us letting her have a moment with our little one. (this was pre covid btw) 12.) From nzdanni: I was in the supermarket years ago and the operator scanned a pack of biscuits that wasn&#39;t mine. It was the only thing the guy behind me was ordering so I was like meh, i&#39;ll just pay it. It wasn&#39;t a big deal at the time and it was like $1. I randomly bumped into that guy about month later on the bus and he had felt so warmed by the experience. He said he went to the petrol station on the way home from the supermarket and there was a guy who&#39;s card declined and couldn&#39;t pay for his gas, so he had paid it for him as a way of paying it forward. It was cool to think that what started off so small and irrelevant could spawn into something more wholesome. 13.) From schwarzmalerin: 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&#39;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. 14.) From indianamale7: I received a letter from the parent of a guy (inmate) at the prison where I worked. It said &ldquo;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. &ldquo; Very few people take time to do this and it made my day. 15.) From manualpropulsion: I once demonstrated how the hand controls on my minivan worked for a group of Buddhist monks. I was in the airport parking garage when about a dozen of them watched me get into the driver&#39;s seat and load my wheelchair in. One monk approached and politely asked how I drove. I showed how the controls were connected to the pedals and how to push down to accelerate, in for brake. They murmured and nodded as I revved the engine, then thanked me and wished me a good day. Their smiles were very kind and genuine, it was a nice experience and a good memory. Even a small gesture can impact someone&#39;s life for a very long time.16.) From 00TooMuchTime00: I was waiting tables and a younger woman was taking her son out to dinner. At the time, I was unaware of their financial situation. I lived with my parents at the time and made plenty of cash the night before. She was very nice and sweet and I overheard her son asking for a big dessert. He wasn&rsquo;t bratty or anything.  We give a free desert for birthdays but he wanted a big one. So I decided to buy their desert. Couple moments after that decision I said screw it, and bought their whole meal.  She left me a note which is one of the nicest things I&rsquo;ve ever read. I&rsquo;m not a picture guy so I&rsquo;m glad I posted it on Reddit. You can read it if you&rsquo;d like. When I&rsquo;m bummed out I read that note and remember I don&rsquo;t suck. There are certain instances where cat-calling is okay and this is one of them.17.) From alfredpennyworth04: I was walking out of a pro soccer game on a side walk near a busy road. My girlfriend was closest to the road and all I did was move her away from the road and take her spot. These older guys in a car driving by rolled the windows of their down and yelled at me &ldquo;that was very chivalrous and we love it!&rdquo; Scared the crap out of me for a second but it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ll remember for a long time! This next story is a reminder of exactly how and why &quot;pay it forward&quot; works.18.) From pineappledaddy: A long time ago a woman&#39;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&#39;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&#39;t need the money. I randomly received a text a few years later that said, &quot; I finally paid it forward&quot;.  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. 

Being kind to someone you&#39;ve never met and may never meet again is a wholly selfless act, which is why we all love a story of a wholesome encounter with a total stranger. Because we can all use a little extra faith in humanity these...