Human Kindness #12: May it Bring You Luck

Welcome back to Human Kindness! If you haven’t already, please check out Human Kindness: Introduction for the background to this blog series! These stories are NOT all my own, they have been submitted to me for the purpose of this series and are a collection from some of the kindest people I know or who have contacted me to share their story.

I am ALWAYS on the lookout for kindness stories, so please do get in touch if you have one, there is a chance for you to submit yours at the end of this post (and I will always keep them anonymous). As always, if you’d like to receive these stories directly to your inbox every Monday morning, sign up to the mailing list at the end of this post.

I can’t lie, from a purely selfish point of view, sometimes these stories come to me EXACTLY when I need them. This was one of those stories.

“My wife came home to me and told me this story, and I knew that I had to share it here. So many people are afraid to publicize the good things they do for fear of bragging, but I think if more people came forward about the kindness they show to others, we would see a lot more goodness.

My wife works in a health clinic, and she came home one day to tell me a story of a lady she had encountered at work that day. As soon as she had entered the clinic, the lady commented on my wife’s perfume. My wife was thrilled, having very recently bought the perfume for both herself and one of my daughters, and she had put it on for the first time that morning to work.

She said the lady was raving off her perfume, getting all of the details and saying how beautiful it was. The lady had apparently worn the same perfume her entire life, but had always wanted to try a new one never quite finding one she liked. She was thrilled to have found this perfume on my wife and wanted to ensure she wrote the details of it down before leaving the clinic. This lady’s daughters were always asking for suggestions for gifts to buy her, and the lady finally had something to give them. She would ask for this perfume.

As my wife and the lady got chatting, the lady divulged that she was soon about to start treatment for breast cancer. She had survived cervical cancer 20 years prior, and was getting ready to start the first round of treatment for breast cancer. As anyone would be, my wife felt sad hearing this and wished her an abundance of luck with her treatment and journey.

Just before the lady left the clinic, my wife asked her to wait a second. She went into the staff room to get her bag, knowing that she had taken the perfume to work with her that day. She came back out and as the lady was ready to leave, my wife gave her the perfume and told her she wanted her to have it. The lady was completely taken aback and protested against this but my wife insisted. She told her to take the perfume and enjoy wearing it, and may it bring her some good luck for her upcoming series of treatments. If nothing else, it might brighten this lady’s spirits during such a gruelling time.

Sometimes all it takes to completely boost somebody’s day and remind you that we are all human and in this journey together is a simple but beautiful act of kindness, and a wish for good luck.”

Have you experienced an act of kindness recently? Maybe you have done something for somebody that you haven’t yet shared for fear of being judged to be “bragging” or you have been on the receiving end of a kindness that somebody has shown you. My inbox is ALWAYS open for your kindness stories so please submit them!

Stories will be treated with discretion and published anonymously at all times, and I will share as much or as little information as you wish. Message me using the form below and I’ll be sure to feature your story in an upcoming post.

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