For better or for worse, life is full of unexpected situations and surprises, both enjoyable and frightening. But in our experience, nothing quite beats those small moments of connection and compassion that can happen between complete strangers, like a bolt from the blue. Whether by coincidence or a stroke of fate, you end up getting to know each other on an incredibly deep level.
If you’re lucky, you become fast friends. Other times, however, you never meet that person again, but your experience stays with you for years. Coventry-based award-winning designer and illustrator Dave Gray, aka redditor u/joeChump, urged people to share the most memorable moments they’ve ever had with strangers in a viral thread. We’ve collected some of the most wholesome stories to share with you, and, hopefully, some of these might even restore your faith in humanity.
Bored Panda got in touch with illustrator Dave for a chat about his viral thread, and he shared his thoughts on unexpected altruism, as well as what we can all do to be kinder every day. “I think random acts of kindness break through mistrust and negativity and help us realize that humanity is fundamentally good,” he said. Read on for the full interview.
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#1
The day my dad died I was holding it together pretty well. Late that night I went to Target to have a moment to just zone out, and buy a few groceries.
As I got to the checkstand with my arm full of stuff I dropped a container of sour cream and it exploded everywhere. I completely lost control of myself and started to cry. The ugly cry. I was instantly surrounded by a group of women who just took charge of the whole situation. They helped me get everything paid for, cleaned up, and one lady even got a new sour cream.
No words were spoken, but their compassion and take charge attitude has stayed with me since.
Image source: misdolnurs2517, Ondosan Sinaga
#2
I was about 10 years old and I had a pair of HEELYS and they were the coolest f*****g thing on the earth. I would roll all over on those things and thought I was hot s**t.
We were in China, spending a few weeks in Beijing. I was rolling around in Tiananmen Square, hit a crack and lost one of the wheels. I looked around for about an hour, but to no avail. I was probably visibly bummed, as my Heelys, the things that made me hot s**t, were now ineffective and basically ruined. The next morning, I was walking through the square on the way to meet my friends, and an older gentleman ran up to me and stopped me- he had found my wheel. He said that he had seen me rolling around and saw me looking for the wheel after I fell. He saw that I gave up, and stuck around for another hour to keep looking after I left. He came there the next morning with no expectation that I’d pass through, but wanted to be there just in case. I’m not sure who was happier, me that I got my wheel back or him because he didn’t think he’d see me in literally the world’s busiest square. I said thank you and…that was about it. We both had places to be and that was that.
Image source: anon, Bruno Martins
#3
I was on an eastbound train from Colorado two days before Christmas. There was some kind of incident in another car around 11:00 that night – a dude got wasted and started threatening other passengers – and we had to make a stop so that the local police could come and collect him.
After the delay, the conductor came over the speakers and announced that if anyone was feeling upset or shaken by the incident one of the passengers had offered to play his guitar in the snack car and anyone who was awake was welcome to come down and join in for a singalong. I’m always down for weird train activities so I decided to grab my harmonica from my bag and head down.
There were about fifteen of us in the car, ranging in age from 16 to mid-70s and from all over the country. We sang every song we could think of that even kind of referenced a train – we were somewhere in rural Nebraska at that point and nobody had cell service to look up lyrics, so at times I was pretty sure that we were making up more of the words than we actually remembered. The conductor came through after a while and offered to play a few songs, so the guy with the guitar handed it off and pulled out a mandolin, and my harmonica got passed around the group while one guy drummed along on his backpack.
After a while the conductor got up and left, then came back with a copy of _The Polar Express_. He read it out loud to our absolutely captivated group of mostly adult travelers while the snow flew all around us in the night, and I swear that for a few minutes our trip felt every bit as magical as the visit to Santa Claus in the story
Sometime well after the snack car was supposed to have been vacated for the night, we capped things off with the most ridiculously earnest rendition of Don’t Stop Believing that has ever been performed and went our separate ways. I never saw anyone from our little makeshift band again, but I’ll always remember that weird, wonderful late-night celebration of Journey and the magic of winter travel that came about because some guy was a jackass on a train.
Image source: dreadhorse, Alex Rainer
#4
When I was fourteen, I was trapped in the rubble of an earthquake. I spent six hours crawling towards a man whose face I never had the opportunity to see… he was a citizen who didn’t leave his name with anyone and never came forward, after the fact. It has always bothered me that I will likely never find out who he was or tell him how much comfort his voice gave me during those horrible hours. When I saw pictures of the space I ended up in, much later, I couldn’t (and can’t) understand how he was able to stand where he stood for six hours without injuring himself or suffering some sort of emotional trauma himself. He’s my hero.
Image source: trailangel4
#5
I was on a long late night bus ride. It was express so it made very few stops. The bus had maybe 10 people on it in total. Half way through the trip it made a stop at a small town station so people could grab a snack or use a public restroom and maybe stretch their legs.
I went up to the counter to buy what at that point was my dinner even though it was after 10 pm and when the cashier rang it up I passed a $50 bill to her and she told me that she couldn’t make change. Defeated I went back to my seat on the bus.
As everyone piled on and the bus drove away I lovely middle aged lady walked up from her seat near the back and politely asked if I minded if she sat with me. I told her she was more than welcome. She sits and proceeds to unpack a small lunch bag.
She then split the entirety of her meal with me. She said she had been waiting for the washroom to clear out and had overheard what happened. She said: “I’ve gone hungry in my life and it sucks. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, so you can share with me.”
When we were done I jokingly asked if she could break a $50 and we had a good laugh. She stuck with me for the remainder of the trip and was a very interesting lady besides being incredibly generous.
I hope she is well.
Image source: Theearthhasnoedges, Aris Sfakianakis
#6
My boyfriend and I were on a road trip in the Deep South, we had a tent and could not find a camping park that would take us. We ended up driving around looking for a rural place to crash and along the way we saw a family having dinner on their outdoor patio. We pulled over and asked where the closest park was and the home owner said “oh what the hell, camp on our front yard!” We ended up spending the night, having a campfire and chatting about life and love. I’ll never forget that night and the hospitality of the south.
Image source: mon-eek, Toa Heftiba
#7
My son was in a pretty serious accident. I was a wreck in the icu waiting room.
A little girl maybe about 9 or 10 years old was with her family, saying goodbye to her great grandmother .
She waltzed right up to me and said , ” sir, why are you crying ? ”
I explained my son was very sick. She handed me a miniature puppy doll and told me it was lucky and my son would get better.
She was.right, he did and I still keep that little puppy on my dresser and think of that sweet child.
Image source: Stillloveyou112
#8
I was a horticulture student on a botanical tour of Europe in 1979. I am at a flower market in Munich and see a plant I don’t recognize. The lady working it doesn’t speak English; I don’t know any German. I see a plant I do know; touch the leaf and say the Latin name for it. She nods and smiles. I name another plant I know. Her smile gets bigger. I point at the unknown plant and look at her with an expression that I hope says, “You’re turn.” She tells me the Latin name. We don’t speak each others language but we can communicate in a language that has been dead for over a thousand years. Cool.
Image source: toastie2313
#9
NYC bar: I was on a first date and there was an old guy at the bar — looked like an old fisherman from a novel — and he was convinced my date and I were already married. He went on and on about it. We said we weren’t married and he told us we were meant to be together and would be married a long time. He talked with us for a good 15 minutes about this.
My date and I did get married about a year later and have been together almost 25 years now.
Image source: DangReadingRabbit, Kyle Wagner
#10
I have been waiting for a question like this.
This was about two years ago, when I was in university. I was having some gas pains, so I went to use the bathroom. I was the only one in there, but someone came in shortly after, so I decided to wait until she was done. She apparently was in the same situation as me, so we were both just sitting in silence waiting for the other to leave, occasionally letting out tiny toots.
Finally, she says, “can we both just fart?” I laugh and say “yes please!” And for about a minute after, both of us are simultaneously laughing and farting. Laughing because we’re farting, and farting because we’re laughing.
We finished at about the same time and said “hello” as we washed our hands. I never saw her again. I still giggle every time I think of it.
Edit: Wow, my first gold is about farting. Thanks, stranger!
Image source: CocoaAndToast
#11
I’ve told this story before, but people likenit so I will share again:
When I was a kid we didn’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’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, “Promise me that you’ll keep reading.” 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 or so ago, but I still think of her whenever I buy a new book.
Image source: -eDgAR-, Gunnar Ridderström
#12
It was the night before Christmas Eve, about 8:30 pm. My mom was trying to sell our place, we’d moved a few blocks away in with my new step dad. The driveway needed to be clear and there was about a foot and a half of snow to shovel. I was still pretty young and it was going to be a big job.
I trudged over there with my shovel, and just started the first row, when a random guy in a snowplow turned in and cleared the whole driveway in two minutes easy. He was wearing the red plaid jacket and toque combo – classic Canadian look.
I was worried as we hadn’t hired a snow removal guy, but he just waved and said Merry Christmas and drove off. Thanks snowplow Guy, you taught me a thing or two about Xmas spirit.
Image source: SneakNSnore, Franz Roos
#13
Ill share the cliffnotes version since it sounds so unreal. Years ago I walked to a bridge with intention ok killing myself by jumping off. Met a guy there who wouldnt stop hovering around me, eventually he approaches me and tells me that “I have bad spirits around me” and that i should keep my head up and not give in to them. He thrn askes if he can smudge me.
I didnt know what that was but agreed anyway. He pulls out sage a lighter and a shell from his backpack and proceeds to bless me right there. As soon as he finishes a bunch of birds (seagulls, crows and pigeons.) All come flying over and fly in circles above us. He said that they were telling me my life was about to turn around and then he said goodbyr and left.
My life did change that day, big time. And when my mind occasionaly creeps back to dark places, I think of him and it pulls me back.
Edit: Wow, thanks for all the really sweet replies, I wasnt expecting this story to be recieved so well. Ive always been reluctant to share it outside of the handful of irl friends that I have because I would probably think it sounded like b******t if someone told me it to me. Glad I took the chance. and thank you for the gold kind stranger, ill be sure to pay it forward.
Image source: KingOfTheGoobers
#14
When I was studying abroad in Lithuania I volunteered at a soup kitchen and every now and again there would be an older lady helping out who dropped off supplies. We would smile at each other and say hello even through the language barrier.
Well one night I went to Easter mass in the town I was volunteering in and it was warmer during the day so I didn’t think about bringing a heavier jacket once it got dark, not to mention the church was this old massive building. So I’m sitting through mass and I’m getting colder and start shivering pretty noticeably, when all of a sudden I feel someone drape a scarf over my shoulders. I turn around and it’s the lady who would drop off supplies at the soup kitchen! Once mass was over I tried to return the scarf but she refused to take it back. I did my best to extend my gratitude through the language barrier but I’m sure she knew.
It was the most beautiful and kindest thing that has ever happened to me. The was the last time I saw her and I will never forget her kindness towards me. It still tears me up thinking about it.
Image source: Lithuanian_Rooster, Tatiana Zanon
#15
I’m pretty sure I told this before, but I enjoy it, so here it goes. I was playing on my Nintendo DS in the subway when I caught a random connection. I looked up to see if I could spot the other person with a DS, and wound up locking eyes with this *incredibly intense* little boy who was seated a few benches away from me.
“DO YOU HAVE POKEMON,” he asked, and as it turned out, I did in fact have Pokemon. With that, our fate was sealed. There’s this thing in the Pokemon games where, if you meet the gaze of another trainer on your journey, then you must do battle. I had just experienced this in real life.
He *destroyed* me. All level 100s. Felt like I was an extra in the damn anime doing battle with the protagonist.
Image source: mus_maximus, Tyler Lagalo
#16
I’d locked myself out of my flat once when I was taking out the rubbish. It would have been close to midnight. Female, early twenties, and just out of hospital. I had no way to get in and no money, phone, or nearby friends. I don’t remember this boy arriving or explaining myself to him, but he sat with me until morning the whole night long beneath my block. He had limited English so we barely spoke, and he shared a tin of pineapple with me he had in his bag. He was calm, empty of ill intent, quiet but watchful. Friendly, a big, open smile. When the sun came up, he walked on. I’ll never forget him, or how kind he was to do that. Some people are so in tune with the world, they protect it. I hope he was ok too.
Image source: stopbeingamole
#17
I was in the US Navy at the time and we pulled into port in Norway. We had a couple days to explore and I went to the closest city, Bergen. While in the main square area of town just down the road from their fish market there was a small boy, maybe 3 years old, and his father. The boy had a large red balloon but it was windy and it got away from him. His father made a grab for it and missed but obviously couldn’t run after it and leave his kid. It was blowing generally in my direction and I made a quick dash for it and managed to catch it out of the air before it blew away. I then crouched down and held it out for the boy. He looked like he was about to start crying but immediately brightened up with the kind happiness only a child can have. He took the balloon and his father just gave me a small smile and a nod. I returned the smile and nod and we went on our way. This moment always sticks out to me.
Edit: Thanks for the Gold friend.
Image source: Stroinsk, Alyssa Stevenson
#18
When I was at Disneyland a few years ago, a woman approached me out of the blue in the middle of Main St. and asked if I’d like to dance. I obliged her, and we spent the next few minutes chatting while her friends filmed us dancing.
It turns out it was her birthday and she was traversing the park on a birthday scavenger hunt, and one of the items on the list was to dance with a stranger. I wished her a happy birthday, we said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways.
I never even got her name, but it still makes me smile when I think about it.
Image source: lazyfriction, RODNAE Productions
#19
I’ve shared this on Reddit before. The day I found out my grandmother had a stroke and would never walk or talk again, I was away at college. I finally broke down in a bathroom. A girl came in and asked if I needed a hug. I was crying so hard that I really didn’t get a look at her face. I cried on her shoulder for about 10 minutes and then had to pull myself together and leave for class. I never explained myself and she never asked. I never recognized or spoke to her again. I wonder if she sometimes saw me on campus and wondered what was up and if I was okay.
Image source: AvadaKedavras, Medina Rrokja
#20
So about 11 years ago I visited india. I went to a Sikh temple and sat down to enjoy langer (free food served by sikhs to anyone who walks in). I was served food by this volunteer and we started chatting after lunch and became buddies. So fast forward I am visiting another Sikh temple in the Himalayas and in the kitchen there was only one volunteer when a large bus filled with people pulled in. I went up to the guy and asked if he needed help and he gladly accepted it. So I start serving food to people sitting in the lines and guess who I see sitting down? My buddy from the first Sikh temple. It was great seeing him and we said our hellos..
Image source: Trident187059005, Karthik Balakrishnan
#21
I had about a 2 hour drive from Columbus to the Cleveland area. I tend to drive on the faster side, and therefore pass a lot of people. I noticed about 20 minutes into the drive that the car behind me was still the same one that got onto the highway right behind me. We ended up driving the entire 2 hours right next to each other or in front of/behind each other. We created space in lanes to help the other pass the slower cars and made sure the other wouldn’t fall behind. As I was getting off the highway, he honked his horn, gave me a big smile, and waved. It has been my favorite driving experience so far,
Image source: livecaterpillarflesh, Gus Ruballo
#22
Few years back my wife and I visited Italica, a roman ruined city a few miles from Seville. The ruins are glorious and we had them to ourselves, so when as we emerged from the gladiator gate in the amphitheater I stalked out into the sunlight, threw out my arms and roared “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?” It rang off the old seats in a satisfying manner.
Turns out we weren’t alone. I spun to find a Japanese tourist staring at me in wonder, who then grinned nervously, snapped a picture, and gave me a thumbs up.
My wife: “You’re an idiot.”
Image source: Kevin_Uxbridge
#23
I was 13 and waiting for a taxi. It was raining and I had no umbrella, so I got soaked. This guy next to me sheltered me from the rain with his umbrella. We talked while waiting for the taxi and he was so easy and fun to talk to! (Note: I was a shy kid with few friends so this was a unique event). After about 15 minutes another guy came up on his scooter. My guy told him that I was a friend of his and if he could drop me to my destination. So yeah, I just climbed on this stranger’s scooter and took the lift home. Perhaps that was dumb looking back on it… Anyway I still think of this guy and the kindness he showed me to this day even though I don’t even know his name or remember his face :(
Image source: metaxtase, deniz baha
#24
I met a well dressed older gentleman at a train station in london, he struck up a conversation about the departures board, and being a 20yr old woman I was hesitant to talk back, but I like chatting to people and decided to keep the convo going.
He ended up being extremely easy to talk to, I ended up telling him I was waiting for a train to take me to the airport so I could see my boyfriend in Hong Kong whom I hadn’t seen for months, and he ended up telling me all about his life and his amazing family, and just be all round charming.
He was in London for the day to pick up a passport so he could whisk his wife away on holiday, and he just made me smile the way he was so smitten with her.
He ended up leaving after about half an hour, and when he left he took my hand and kissed it, telling me it’s so beautiful to see a young woman in love.
I never caught his name, but I’ll always remember him
Image source: moolymoomoo, Zeeshaan Shabbir
#25
I was out at a beach with my family for a bonfire. Only problem was that we got there too late and there were no more open pits.
We sat about on the sand for about an hour until a man came up to us telling us that he had ran out of logs. Seeing as we had no pit and that they were freezing without a fire, we took him up on his offer and joined his family around their pit. We sat until midnight talking about music from the 70’s and talking about our lives. Coolest bunch of people I’ve met in a while.
Image source: jdax2, Tegan Mierle
#26
Years ago, I was at the bus stop super early one morning. It was really cold as well.
Anyway, there was a guy that I used to see every time I would get the 7am bus – looked like a builder, he always got off near one of the large building sites by the university. We were on “nodding terms”
One morning, there was a fireball/disintegrating meteor. We both saw it, he turned to me and said with a super serious face “you know our souls are forever linked now”. We went back to nodding terms, and I never saw him after I quit early morning classes
I guess because I remember it, he was kinda right and f****r is still trolling me.
#27
While out for a long walk to take some photos in Wellington, New Zealand, I stop to drink some water, and get chatting with a guy sitting on the park bench.
He was homeless in that he didn’t have a permanent residence, but he considered himself more of a nomad, touring around the country, and had made his way from the UK to New Zealand over the course of a few years.
He went on about how he used to work in London, got sick of his corporate job, and went travelling with the remainder of his savings, never looking back. He’s eventually burnt his savings, and was now happily stranded in New Zealand.
I still remember his intials were D.G., and he asked if I wanted to take a photo of him. I’d taken hundreds of photos of landscapes, animals, and people, [but his one was my favourite from the day.](https://500px.com/photo/2846284/d-g-by-rick-mczany)
Image source: Rick0r, Rick McZany
#28
I was leaving the gym and walked down a long hallway, and didn’t remember having any money on me.
As soon as I stepped outside, I heard a coin drop, and looked down and $2 seemed to have fallen from somewhere on me. It was strange because I didn’t have any money on me, and it would have fallen off of me inside while walking, I thought. It rolls and I pick it up. I was confused because I don’t know where the $2 came from.
I look up and there’s a homeless man in a wheel chair playing harmonica who I otherwise would have passed by. I gave the $2 to him. He said thank you, I said no problem. I began to walk away and he said ‘Good, and you?’. I played along and said, ‘oh, good! Where did you learn to play harmonica?’ He proceeded to tell me that he used to play all sorts of instruments until he had his stroke, and showed me that one of his arms didn’t work anymore.
He was a nice guy, and it made my day a bit better. It was a nice and humbling moment.
Image source: StencilBoy, Matt Seymour
#29
was on the bus home and this girl sitting next to me was making paper cranes. before i got off the bus she stopped me and gave me the crane she was working on and smiled at me. i still have it and i think about it a lot
EDIT: oh gosh i didnt expect everyone to be waiting on me to open up the crane to see if theres a number inside! i carefully unfolded it and i didnt see a number unfortunately :( woulda made for a cute story though!
Image source: sunnylia, lil artsy
#30
A stranger gave me 300 dollars , no strings attached.
I met him and his wife in Oklahoma City, while on a road trip across country alone. I was seated near them at a restaurant bar.
didn’t ask for any money and don’t even know his name, but he rules
Image source: razzledazzlemaster, MART PRODUCTION
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