The Kindness of Strangers

Sands1981

So this post is about a friend of mine. I met her on Facebook. I am not on Facebook now. I left it because it became a whole heap of chit!

Before that though, I met a woman there, she is Jewish and lives in France.

I ended up in a sad place. I had to get food from St Vincent De Paul. ( Give them a little something, for every one who don't deserve it, there are those who do) This woman, who had never met me, sent me 70 euro once and chocolate. She did this in spite of me having never met her.

When I had the money, I asked her to send me an address I could send it to in return and she would not take it.

It took me awhile to convince her but I sent her some "Irish' stuff in response. I was kind of poor though so it was just Taytos and Cheese and Emerald Sweets. I always felt I had not thanked her enough.

Since then though, I have gotten better and now I just sent her a beautiful handmade thing that it took me a while to save up for. It is a beautiful Celtic Cross. It is so beautifully crafted. It is also made of turf. It is just so lovely.

She was very good to me when I had little. I hope to go to France next year to meet her. I love her a lot and I have repaid her in kind.

There are a whole heap of bad people in this world, I know some:-)...There are also those who step between two worlds....good and bad...

Then there are those who 'see you and feel you' through nothing more than what you write......My friend was one of them , and she judged right.

The kindness of a stranger can reach the right person and do good.

I am forever humbled by her sheer faith in me by nothing more than my written word.

The kindness of strangers can be a beautiful thing for real.

I love her a lot.

Graces7

A lovely post; thank you.

And that you did not take kindness for granted.

We are all and each "strangers to each other. So we can all and each be kind to each other in so many ways. Passing the kindness and caring on.. In hidden ways and quiet places.

I meet so many kind folk each time I am out and try to pass the kindness on then to others.

Pass it on?

Bless you!

Noddyholder

Ah a lovely post to awake to, brings back memories,

I once was told that by a complete stranger on the Internet who I never met, that I was left a really substantial admount of money,

thank you Rev Father August goodluck.

BrokenArrows

Very nice post.

AH Response: Is she hot?

nkav86

BrokenArrows wrote:

AH Response: Is she hot?

Must be, OP said twice they love her

faceman

I'm skeptical about strangers OP. I mean have you ever been mugged by a friend? ITS ONLY EVER STRANGERS!!

fuzzydunlop85

I work for a charity where people phone or create an online referral about the location where people are rough sleeping. I initially thought London would be a cold, hard and ruthless place, but some of the stories I've heard have really restored my faith in humanity. Although some of these good intentions may be a little misguided ( i.e. - people giving large amounts of money to people begging outside stations or taking people into their homes to stay), I believe now that most people are generally very kind and decent. One that stuck with me was a site manager who found a guy sleeping rough in one of his companies developments one morning, took him to a hotel and paid for him to stay there for two weeks. I can't remember the last time a stranger was kind to me, but I do see or hear about it quite often which is good for the spirit!

BrokenArrows

fuzzydunlop85 wrote: »

I work for a charity where people phone or create an online referral about the location where people are rough sleeping. I initially thought London would be a cold, hard and ruthless place, but some of the stories I've heard have really restored my faith in humanity. Although some of these good intentions may be a little misguided ( i.e. - people giving large amounts of money to people begging outside stations or taking people into their homes to stay), I believe now that most people are generally very kind and decent. One that stuck with me was a site manager who found a guy sleeping rough in one of his companies developments one morning, took him to a hotel and paid for him to stay there for two weeks. I can't remember the last time a stranger was kind to me, but I do see or hear about it quite often which is good for the spirit!

While its a very nice gesture for someone to be put up in a hotel for 2 weeks it doesnt really help the homeless person in the long run.

It is almost impossible to be homeless in the UK unless you have a serious drug or alcohol problem or refuse help due to some misguided belief that you can fix it yourself or someone has serious mental problems.

The state give rent allowance and job seekers payments which should prevent anyone from being homeless. So anytime i see homeless people on the streets of London you have to make the assumption that they are there because they cannot keep their lives together regardless of what help they are given.

Ive looked up these amounts before and if tomorrow i was left on the street without a job, house or a penny to my name in a reasonably short period of time i would be getting paid job seekers allowance and would be be able to afford to rent a room in a shared house.

What i do believe needs to be improved is:

• Education of the belefits that a homeless person can get so they know there is an option if they are homeless.
• Consistent action by the police to remove people from the street. Police are the people that walk the streets and see homeless people day after day in the same places. They need to take responsibility to remove these people from the streets and point them in the correct direction to get help.
  Police walking past a person sleeping rough or begging in the daytime is not acceptable but it happens the majority of the time.

whoopsadoodles

BrokenArrows wrote: »

While its a very nice gesture for someone to be put up in a hotel for 2 weeks it doesnt really help the homeless person in the long run.

It is almost impossible to be homeless in the UK unless you have a serious drug or alcohol problem or refuse help due to some misguided belief that you can fix it yourself or someone has serious mental problems.

The state give rent allowance and job seekers payments which should prevent anyone from being homeless. So anytime i see homeless people on the streets of London you have to make the assumption that they are there because they cannot keep their lives together regardless of what help they are given.

Ive looked up these amounts before and if tomorrow i was left on the street without a job, house or a penny to my name in a reasonably short period of time i would be getting paid job seekers allowance and would be be able to afford to rent a room in a shared house.

What i do believe needs to be improved is:

• Education of the belefits that a homeless person can get so they know there is an option if they are homeless.
• Consistent action by the police to remove people from the street. Police are the people that walk the streets and see homeless people day after day in the same places. They need to take responsibility to remove these people from the streets and point them in the correct direction to get help.
  Police walking past a person sleeping rough or begging in the daytime is not acceptable but it happens the majority of the time.

Any chance this could be kept as a thread about the kindness of strangers, and not about why homeless people in the UK deserve what they've got?

fuzzydunlop85

BrokenArrows wrote: »

While its a very nice gesture for someone to be put up in a hotel for 2 weeks it doesnt really help the homeless person in the long run.

It is almost impossible to be homeless in the UK unless you have a serious drug or alcohol problem or refuse help due to some misguided belief that you can fix it yourself or someone has serious mental problems.

The state give rent allowance and job seekers payments which should prevent anyone from being homeless. So anytime i see homeless people on the streets of London you have to make the assumption that they are there because they cannot keep their lives together regardless of what help they are given.

Ive looked up these amounts before and if tomorrow i was left on the street without a job, house or a penny to my name in a reasonably short period of time i would be getting paid job seekers allowance and would be be able to afford to rent a room in a shared house.

What i do believe needs to be improved is:

• Education of the belefits that a homeless person can get so they know there is an option if they are homeless.
• Consistent action by the police to remove people from the street. Police are the people that walk the streets and see homeless people day after day in the same places. They need to take responsibility to remove these people from the streets and point them in the correct direction to get help.
  Police walking past a person sleeping rough or begging in the daytime is not acceptable but it happens the majority of the time.

As woopsie alluded too I will keep this thread on track, but I'll just say in brief that it is simply not as black and white as this and I speak to numerous people on a daily basis, from all walks of life, who are rough sleeping all over the UK.

Your Face

Some of those millionaire Nigerian princes are very kind.

whoopsadoodles

A post in another thread reminded me of this one.

I had a massive tragedy in my life.

After he retired, my grandad sold newspapers at the nearest train station. He did it for the social aspect mostly and so chatted to his regulars. Following what happened to me, he was selling newspapers with my story of the front of them. Can you imagine how crap that must be?

A man he spoke to every morning, but didn't know at all apart from in passing, gave him a card for me. In it was €500. "To help with things".

So many other instances of kindness surrounded what happened also. I often wonder if that's why the people I know who've been through the worst times are the ones who are most positive about humanity, because they've seen such amazing kindness first hand.

big b

Ironic username, given this thread started with you being hungry

Graces7

BrokenArrows wrote: »

While its a very nice gesture for someone to be put up in a hotel for 2 weeks it doesnt really help the homeless person in the long run.

It is almost impossible to be homeless in the UK unless you have a serious drug or alcohol problem or refuse help due to some misguided belief that you can fix it yourself or someone has serious mental problems.

The state give rent allowance and job seekers payments which should prevent anyone from being homeless. So anytime i see homeless people on the streets of London you have to make the assumption that they are there because they cannot keep their lives together regardless of what help they are given.

Ive looked up these amounts before and if tomorrow i was left on the street without a job, house or a penny to my name in a reasonably short period of time i would be getting paid job seekers allowance and would be be able to afford to rent a room in a shared house.

What i do believe needs to be improved is:

• Education of the belefits that a homeless person can get so they know there is an option if they are homeless.
• Consistent action by the police to remove people from the street. Police are the people that walk the streets and see homeless people day after day in the same places. They need to take responsibility to remove these people from the streets and point them in the correct direction to get help.
  Police walking past a person sleeping rough or begging in the daytime is not acceptable but it happens the majority of the time.

So utterly unrealistic is your post on so many levels. Try it? I dare thee!

and I lived in the UK until fairly recently and know the system there. VERY hard to access benefits or help.

Graces7

KIndnesses need not be big or of money.. the smallest things are the greatest. a smile and a few words? Holding a door open with a smile..