When I was in Kindergarten, we had 6th grade buddies for a day. At one point during that day we were sitting and talking (me and him). The teacher then came by and gave both the kindergarteners and 6th graders cookies in napkins. He gave me his. I am a senior in High School, and I don’t know why, but I believe this has profoundly impacted me.
Julia:
I was always teased about my curly hair, and I hated it. One time, I straightened it, and a boy who I was friends with but not very close to asked me if my hair was naturally straight, and I said no. He then asked, “Why are you hiding your beautiful curls?” Year and a half later, he’s one of my best friends.
Another “fun” hair story, a few years ago, a guy sitting behind me always put gum in my hair. A popular girl who I had gone to middle school with saw, and stood up in the middle of class, walked up and shooed his hand away, and while reprimanding him the whole time, picked the gum out of my hair.
Marta:
When I was thirteen, I was really overweight. In PE class, we had to run a mile, and, naturally, I was the last one, and was lapped multiple times by the kids that were much more in shape than I was. It got to the point where the entire class was waiting for me while I ran around the field on my own, and I began to cry, since they were all watching me and I felt so ashamed. As I rounded the last corner, I was entirely defeated, and just walked.
Then, a really popular boy, lead a rally of the other, really athletic, boys in my class, and they came out to run beside me, encouraging me and cheering me own, and I sprinted for the end. The entire class clapped for me! I was still upset about my poor performance, but they definitely made me feel better about it!!
A Wise Fool:
When I moved to the country and to a new scool in kindergarten, one boy shared his colouring book with me. I will never forget that.
I’ve struggled with anorexia and depression for the longest time, depression since I was in elementary school and anorexia since I was in eighth grade (I’m a senior in high school now) and this girl I really hated because her friends always bullied me, severely, had approached me one day and asked, “Why did you stop smiling? You had such a pretty smile.” and then continued when I just stared at her and said, “I’m sorry for how everybody treated you; and I want to know, I always thought you were very beautiful.”
//Off the angst of RAK, when I was a little girl, I once got lost at a store and I started to freak out and cry, and this lady brought me to the front to have my moms named called and stayed with me until my mom arrived, and when my mom did arrive, the lady disappeared. I haven’t seen her since.
Che:
A simple compliment from a stranger, on a day I was feeling suicidal.
valerie:
The time I was in line at a drive-thru fast food joint
and the man infront of me paid for my order. I had been
taking care of my dying Mother and my faith in humanity
had been feeling shaky; one of the lowest days of my life
at the time. It took me by great surprise and restored
my belief in the kindness of people.
Claudia:
I went to get some coffe and the guy who gave me my coffe wrote on the cup “have a nice day Claudia” with a black marker, that just totally made my day. You don´t see things like this very often but he was so nice that I can´t forget his smiling face when he handed me the cup of coffe.
Romer Jed:
When my advisor and my RC told me that they cared about me and I wasn’t worthless to them. It was the first time I could remember that someone told me I wasn’t trash and I’ve been alive for 20 years.
Gail:
Such touching stories here.
I was in Pearl City with a girlfriend. Neither of us had much in the way of spending money, and were out for a rare lunch together in a chop suey joint. The waitress laid the bill on our table, and a man walked by and scooped it up and carried it over to the cashier and paid it. Then he left.
thank you, whoever and wherever you are. That was 37 years ago.
Rachel:
My old teacher was always nagging me about things I did wrong, always showing me things to improve. I got the feeling she was trying to annoy me, she almost never complimented me. Then, one day, after reading one of my poems, she said casually, ‘You have such a way with words. You are going to be a writer.’
She knew this was my dream. And I realised that all this time, she was pushing me to become better, and I wasn’t even thankful. That one little comment made all the difference and has propelled me forward in so many ways.
When I was in first grade, I still hadn’t learned to tie my shoes (I didn’t until third grade). My grandfather had gotten me a pair of laced-shoes in hopes that I’d be forced to learn. Well, I didn’t. I’d have my mother tie them for me every morning before I went to school, and I went to a school were if you were a little kid you only wore your shoes outside of the classroom. So every day for recess, I’d have to put my shoes on and tie them myself, which I couldn’t do. The teacher always helped me, but one day she wasn’t there. I struggled to tie them, when this girl from fourth or fifth grade approached me and asked if I needed help. I told her yes, and she tied them for me. And every day after that she did as well. She never complained, never asked me to learn, she just did it every single day without question.
I don’t know why it affected me so much or why I still remember it. I guess it was because she did it so willingly even though I couldn’t give her anything back.
I also remember her teacher one day scolding her for it, saying, “She can tie them herself!” all stricty-teachery. D:
Anonymous:
My father gave me the last of the tax return the night I was about to head to San Antonio for Spring Break. I wound up with $200 instead of the initial $40 I thought I was going to get.
Victoria:
I had just written a bulletin on myspace saying that I had not been called beautiful in a really long time (two years to be exact). Not even five minutes later, a boy I barely knew messaged me saying that he knew it was random, but he read that I hadn’t been called beautiful. He then proceeded to tell me all the things about me he thought were beautiful.
LB:
He didn’t know I’m terrified of bees and wasps. But he still smiled and said, when he saw me begin to back away, “don’t panic and it won’t sting you.”
He was right.
Catie Grace:
I’m a really quiet person some times, and I think people don’t really understand me that much. One year I asked my teacher to sign my yearbook at the end of the year and she wrote “Quiet, but you sure have something to say.” It meant the world to me that she wrote that, and I will never forget her.
gabs:
She visited me in the hospital ward after my surgery despite the horrible way I treated her and even though she knew I was still mad at her. She came alone, not having received any other information about where I was staying, which meant she had to look me up herself. We chatted like good friends for the first time in over 5 months.
Even though she’s sick of me now, I’ll never forget that.
Tiff:
He gave me his coat.
April:
My best friend who took me under her wing in seventh grade. I was so not confident and she showed me all the potential I have and that I really am a beautiful person inside and out. I’ll never forget her for that.
Sophomore year. I was having a bad day and one of my best friends knew it and he left me flowers and a stuffed monkey on my porch. The card with the roses simply said, “To girl who never thinks of herself,” in his scrawled handwriting. I just started bawling because I thought it was so sweet.
kim:
in 9th grade of high school, when a classmate signed my autograph book and told me that one day during the school year, she was having a horrible day and then i smiled at her when she came into social studies, and how my smile made her day feel better. ill never forget how that made me feel, and learning about the true power of a smile.
Monica:
I was at the Detroit airport and I had fallen asleep in front of my gate, exhausted from flying all day. A random guy tapped me on the knee waking me up and scaring the crap out of me, just to ask if I was on the flight because it was about to leave. If not for him, I would have been stuck in Detroit waiting for another flight. Thank you..
Gracie:
Junior year, I wasn’t feeling well and put my head down on my desk using my hoodie as a pillow. My best guy friend noticed, put his sweatshirt over me like a blanket and rubbed my back until I fell asleep.
He is still an incredible friend and I wish he knew how I feel about him.
S:
I had to go shopping for my house, and i was having a terrible day. At the greengrocers, i put some potatoes in a basket, and when i stood up i spilt the basket and they went everywhere. The greengrocers wife was there, and she smiled at me, and told me that things would get better, everybody has a bad day. I was really embarassed, but she made me feel so much better. I don’t know her name and I’ll never see her again, but I’ll never forget how kind she was 🙂
sab:
A customer gave me a tip and called me sweet. Thank you. Not for the money but being understanding.
Ris:
My sister, who is really one of my best friendss, knew I was upset about a fight with my other sisters, my other two best friends. The next morning at school, I was laying with my head on the table and she put a can of Monster in front of me, knowing that caffeine would help me get through the day without everyone asking what was wrong.
Megan:
I had made a list of possible reasons why no guy had asked me to homecoming. I pulled out the list while talking to a guy who I don’t get along with. He took the list from me and ripped it out my notebook. He ripped it up and threw each piece in a different trash can so I couldn’t go retrieve them. This is one of the only times he’s ever done or said anything nice for or about me.
Once, someone hid my brand new football trainers in two seperate lockers. About 3 people helped me some of the time and 6 peole stayed with me the whole time, i had never spoke to two of them before. When we found them, the teacher came down and thi kid exclaimed “sir, we found them!” The teache said “Thats good, but now, you’re 15 minutes late for lesson.” One of the kids i had never talked to before shouted at the teacher, saying “we’re not gonna leave her outhere to find them on her own!” i will never forget this.
anon:
I’ve been depressed and suicidal and self harming this year. I have a few friends who stuck by me through everything. Whether it was through emails, texts, or phone calls, they always managed to say the right thing at the right time. Self injury is a hard thing for many people to think about, and I had some friends who I trusted to reach out to who instead judged and gossiped–but my true friends assured me that they would rather I talk to them and even the ones who found it uncomfortable to think that I used to do this try to understand and don’t judge. These friends aren’t afraid of my pain and are incredible people who say they’ll be there, and then actually are. There are too man individual stories of this, but each one made more of a difference than I can possible begin to explain. I have some amazing friends who have stayed up late on the phone with me because I was so devastated by what happened, friends who drop what they’re doing and stay with me because I didn’t trust myself to be by myself. Friends who regularly include “I love you” in their texts.
And when my other friends who gossiped and judged decided to end the friendship because they couldn’t handle what I was going through, my RA was really there for me and made a much bigger difference than she’ll probably ever realize. She let me cry in her room until 3 am when I had nowhere to go because my roommates didn’t know, and assured me that she really does care and it wasn’t just because it’s her job, that she doesn’t agree with what they’re doing, and made sure I was ok.
Thanks to all of them I’m getting better. I love you.
Another one: I was on the verge of a relapse back into cutting last week when I was volunteering at an art class after school for 1st graders. One of the girls gave me the drawing she’d been working on at the end of class; it said “I love you” on it.
Nick:
When my parents finally agree to send me to the college I want to go.
Kristen Deneuve:
I broke down crying in a gas station friday night and a total stranger helped me dry my tears
and bought me a Cola and listened to me talk for almost three hours. This is more than one of
my ‘friends’ did, and I’m glad I got rid of him.
Rowena:
The day someone come to my rescue after crying for one too many months…
ali:
This is a good one. A joy to remember. 🙂
After a harsh brake-up I was partying hard and black to forget and escape consciousness.
There was one evening when a girl I knew was a friend of my friend just took me to her family home, put me in a bubbly bath, fed me and gave the puffiest clothes from her wardrobe to change. After these procedures I felt like sitting in my mama’s lap, which I really needed then.
Thank you, Laura, I will never forget.
When I was in Kindergarten, we had 6th grade buddies for a day. At one point during that day we were sitting and talking (me and him). The teacher then came by and gave both the kindergarteners and 6th graders cookies in napkins. He gave me his. I am a senior in High School, and I don’t know why, but I believe this has profoundly impacted me.
I was always teased about my curly hair, and I hated it. One time, I straightened it, and a boy who I was friends with but not very close to asked me if my hair was naturally straight, and I said no. He then asked, “Why are you hiding your beautiful curls?” Year and a half later, he’s one of my best friends.
Another “fun” hair story, a few years ago, a guy sitting behind me always put gum in my hair. A popular girl who I had gone to middle school with saw, and stood up in the middle of class, walked up and shooed his hand away, and while reprimanding him the whole time, picked the gum out of my hair.
When I was thirteen, I was really overweight. In PE class, we had to run a mile, and, naturally, I was the last one, and was lapped multiple times by the kids that were much more in shape than I was. It got to the point where the entire class was waiting for me while I ran around the field on my own, and I began to cry, since they were all watching me and I felt so ashamed. As I rounded the last corner, I was entirely defeated, and just walked.
Then, a really popular boy, lead a rally of the other, really athletic, boys in my class, and they came out to run beside me, encouraging me and cheering me own, and I sprinted for the end. The entire class clapped for me! I was still upset about my poor performance, but they definitely made me feel better about it!!
When I moved to the country and to a new scool in kindergarten, one boy shared his colouring book with me. I will never forget that.
Helped a friend out of depression.
And we became “solid” friends now 🙂
I’ve struggled with anorexia and depression for the longest time, depression since I was in elementary school and anorexia since I was in eighth grade (I’m a senior in high school now) and this girl I really hated because her friends always bullied me, severely, had approached me one day and asked, “Why did you stop smiling? You had such a pretty smile.” and then continued when I just stared at her and said, “I’m sorry for how everybody treated you; and I want to know, I always thought you were very beautiful.”
//Off the angst of RAK, when I was a little girl, I once got lost at a store and I started to freak out and cry, and this lady brought me to the front to have my moms named called and stayed with me until my mom arrived, and when my mom did arrive, the lady disappeared. I haven’t seen her since.
A simple compliment from a stranger, on a day I was feeling suicidal.
The time I was in line at a drive-thru fast food joint
and the man infront of me paid for my order. I had been
taking care of my dying Mother and my faith in humanity
had been feeling shaky; one of the lowest days of my life
at the time. It took me by great surprise and restored
my belief in the kindness of people.
I went to get some coffe and the guy who gave me my coffe wrote on the cup “have a nice day Claudia” with a black marker, that just totally made my day. You don´t see things like this very often but he was so nice that I can´t forget his smiling face when he handed me the cup of coffe.
When my advisor and my RC told me that they cared about me and I wasn’t worthless to them. It was the first time I could remember that someone told me I wasn’t trash and I’ve been alive for 20 years.
Such touching stories here.
I was in Pearl City with a girlfriend. Neither of us had much in the way of spending money, and were out for a rare lunch together in a chop suey joint. The waitress laid the bill on our table, and a man walked by and scooped it up and carried it over to the cashier and paid it. Then he left.
thank you, whoever and wherever you are. That was 37 years ago.
My old teacher was always nagging me about things I did wrong, always showing me things to improve. I got the feeling she was trying to annoy me, she almost never complimented me. Then, one day, after reading one of my poems, she said casually, ‘You have such a way with words. You are going to be a writer.’
She knew this was my dream. And I realised that all this time, she was pushing me to become better, and I wasn’t even thankful. That one little comment made all the difference and has propelled me forward in so many ways.
Thank you, Mrs Maher!
When I was in first grade, I still hadn’t learned to tie my shoes (I didn’t until third grade). My grandfather had gotten me a pair of laced-shoes in hopes that I’d be forced to learn. Well, I didn’t. I’d have my mother tie them for me every morning before I went to school, and I went to a school were if you were a little kid you only wore your shoes outside of the classroom. So every day for recess, I’d have to put my shoes on and tie them myself, which I couldn’t do. The teacher always helped me, but one day she wasn’t there. I struggled to tie them, when this girl from fourth or fifth grade approached me and asked if I needed help. I told her yes, and she tied them for me. And every day after that she did as well. She never complained, never asked me to learn, she just did it every single day without question.
I don’t know why it affected me so much or why I still remember it. I guess it was because she did it so willingly even though I couldn’t give her anything back.
I also remember her teacher one day scolding her for it, saying, “She can tie them herself!” all stricty-teachery. D:
My father gave me the last of the tax return the night I was about to head to San Antonio for Spring Break. I wound up with $200 instead of the initial $40 I thought I was going to get.
I had just written a bulletin on myspace saying that I had not been called beautiful in a really long time (two years to be exact). Not even five minutes later, a boy I barely knew messaged me saying that he knew it was random, but he read that I hadn’t been called beautiful. He then proceeded to tell me all the things about me he thought were beautiful.
He didn’t know I’m terrified of bees and wasps. But he still smiled and said, when he saw me begin to back away, “don’t panic and it won’t sting you.”
He was right.
I’m a really quiet person some times, and I think people don’t really understand me that much. One year I asked my teacher to sign my yearbook at the end of the year and she wrote “Quiet, but you sure have something to say.” It meant the world to me that she wrote that, and I will never forget her.
She visited me in the hospital ward after my surgery despite the horrible way I treated her and even though she knew I was still mad at her. She came alone, not having received any other information about where I was staying, which meant she had to look me up herself. We chatted like good friends for the first time in over 5 months.
Even though she’s sick of me now, I’ll never forget that.
He gave me his coat.
My best friend who took me under her wing in seventh grade. I was so not confident and she showed me all the potential I have and that I really am a beautiful person inside and out. I’ll never forget her for that.
Sophomore year. I was having a bad day and one of my best friends knew it and he left me flowers and a stuffed monkey on my porch. The card with the roses simply said, “To girl who never thinks of herself,” in his scrawled handwriting. I just started bawling because I thought it was so sweet.
in 9th grade of high school, when a classmate signed my autograph book and told me that one day during the school year, she was having a horrible day and then i smiled at her when she came into social studies, and how my smile made her day feel better. ill never forget how that made me feel, and learning about the true power of a smile.
I was at the Detroit airport and I had fallen asleep in front of my gate, exhausted from flying all day. A random guy tapped me on the knee waking me up and scaring the crap out of me, just to ask if I was on the flight because it was about to leave. If not for him, I would have been stuck in Detroit waiting for another flight. Thank you..
Junior year, I wasn’t feeling well and put my head down on my desk using my hoodie as a pillow. My best guy friend noticed, put his sweatshirt over me like a blanket and rubbed my back until I fell asleep.
He is still an incredible friend and I wish he knew how I feel about him.
I had to go shopping for my house, and i was having a terrible day. At the greengrocers, i put some potatoes in a basket, and when i stood up i spilt the basket and they went everywhere. The greengrocers wife was there, and she smiled at me, and told me that things would get better, everybody has a bad day. I was really embarassed, but she made me feel so much better. I don’t know her name and I’ll never see her again, but I’ll never forget how kind she was 🙂
A customer gave me a tip and called me sweet. Thank you. Not for the money but being understanding.
My sister, who is really one of my best friendss, knew I was upset about a fight with my other sisters, my other two best friends. The next morning at school, I was laying with my head on the table and she put a can of Monster in front of me, knowing that caffeine would help me get through the day without everyone asking what was wrong.
I had made a list of possible reasons why no guy had asked me to homecoming. I pulled out the list while talking to a guy who I don’t get along with. He took the list from me and ripped it out my notebook. He ripped it up and threw each piece in a different trash can so I couldn’t go retrieve them. This is one of the only times he’s ever done or said anything nice for or about me.
Once, someone hid my brand new football trainers in two seperate lockers. About 3 people helped me some of the time and 6 peole stayed with me the whole time, i had never spoke to two of them before. When we found them, the teacher came down and thi kid exclaimed “sir, we found them!” The teache said “Thats good, but now, you’re 15 minutes late for lesson.” One of the kids i had never talked to before shouted at the teacher, saying “we’re not gonna leave her outhere to find them on her own!” i will never forget this.
I’ve been depressed and suicidal and self harming this year. I have a few friends who stuck by me through everything. Whether it was through emails, texts, or phone calls, they always managed to say the right thing at the right time. Self injury is a hard thing for many people to think about, and I had some friends who I trusted to reach out to who instead judged and gossiped–but my true friends assured me that they would rather I talk to them and even the ones who found it uncomfortable to think that I used to do this try to understand and don’t judge. These friends aren’t afraid of my pain and are incredible people who say they’ll be there, and then actually are. There are too man individual stories of this, but each one made more of a difference than I can possible begin to explain. I have some amazing friends who have stayed up late on the phone with me because I was so devastated by what happened, friends who drop what they’re doing and stay with me because I didn’t trust myself to be by myself. Friends who regularly include “I love you” in their texts.
And when my other friends who gossiped and judged decided to end the friendship because they couldn’t handle what I was going through, my RA was really there for me and made a much bigger difference than she’ll probably ever realize. She let me cry in her room until 3 am when I had nowhere to go because my roommates didn’t know, and assured me that she really does care and it wasn’t just because it’s her job, that she doesn’t agree with what they’re doing, and made sure I was ok.
Thanks to all of them I’m getting better. I love you.
Another one: I was on the verge of a relapse back into cutting last week when I was volunteering at an art class after school for 1st graders. One of the girls gave me the drawing she’d been working on at the end of class; it said “I love you” on it.
When my parents finally agree to send me to the college I want to go.
I broke down crying in a gas station friday night and a total stranger helped me dry my tears
and bought me a Cola and listened to me talk for almost three hours. This is more than one of
my ‘friends’ did, and I’m glad I got rid of him.
The day someone come to my rescue after crying for one too many months…
This is a good one. A joy to remember. 🙂
After a harsh brake-up I was partying hard and black to forget and escape consciousness.
There was one evening when a girl I knew was a friend of my friend just took me to her family home, put me in a bubbly bath, fed me and gave the puffiest clothes from her wardrobe to change. After these procedures I felt like sitting in my mama’s lap, which I really needed then.
Thank you, Laura, I will never forget.