March 14, 2008
This story sent in by one of our readers is a great reminder of how words of kindness can make a great difference in a persons’s day. Have you spoken a kind word to someone today?
There’s a story that sticks out in my mind even though the event happened 5 years ago. My wife was standing in line at a register waiting her turn, barely aware of a conversation behind her. “Go on,” she heard a woman tell her companion before there was a tentative tap on her shoulder. My wife, Kathleen, turned to find a kindly faced older gentleman and woman awaiting her attention.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” the man opened, “but my wife and I were just discussing you.” Curious, my wife smiled and waited for the man to continue, “and we felt it would be a shame not to take the time to let you know how beautiful we think you are.” Just lovely,” the woman interjected, “classical beauty.”
“Please don’t be alarmed, we just wanted to tell you.” My wife blushed, grinned, tossed back an “awwww! You’re so sweet! Thanks!” and then it was her turn at the register. A friendly wave on her way out the door was the last they saw of each other but that brief moment left my wife smiling for the rest of the day.
It was just a few seconds out of the lives of 3 people but it stands out as such a notable moment in my mind for its honesty, sincerity and impact. My wife’s beauty is a simple fact, but there are dozens of things about any of us warranting compliments. How often does anybody really go out of their way to give them, though? This wonderful couple, who could have behaved like most of us and simply kept their thoughts to themselves, took the time to stop a complete stranger just to let them know - there’s something special about you, we noticed, and we wanted you to know. There was nothing in it for them. They’d nothing to gain, but they did it anyway and my wife’s day was made for their act.
For my own random compliment I’d like to thank Joel for taking the time to put up this blog and keep it going. I stumbled across Honesty Blog on a bad day, much in need of some uplifting, and the site delivered. I’ve been a stealth reader but thought it high time I contribute something. Thank you for taking the time to share uplifting news and stories, Joel! It’s served to brighten my day many times.
Sent in by Dave author of Toxic Kindness
compliment, good deeds, Honesty, honesty sincerity, kindness, reminder, spoken, stranger, taking the time, words, words of kindnesscompliment, good deeds, Honesty, honesty sincerity, kindness, reminder, spoken, stranger, taking the time, words, words of kindness
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March 14th, 2008
March 11, 2008
It is unbelievable how fast time goes by. It is now March, 2008 and it has been over a year since I started the Honesty Blog. Many thanks to everyone that shared their stories about honesty and good deeds, voted for their favorite stories and shared their comments. So even though it is a few months into the year, I thought it was about time for me to post my first personal story for 2008.
Last month, I was in New York City for some meetings. We decided to find a brunch place a friend of mine had highly recommended. So we took a taxi towards Midtown and pretty soon found ourselves passing the street of the restaurant. We didn’t know exactly where it was, nor did our taxi driver. With so many thousands of restaurants, I can imagine it’s quite challenging for taxi drivers to keep up with all the restaurants. So we told him he could just drop us off and we would find our way since it was a one-way street.
While we were walking, I reached into my pocket for my gloves just to find one of them missing. I had dropped the glove inside the taxi! Thoughts rushed through my head as I also felt the bitter cold wind on my hands. They were not new gloves, but they did serve the purpose, and I really didn’t want to have to look for a new pair. All of a sudden, 
we heard a man yelling from across the street. It was our taxi driver! He had stopped his car in the street and walked back to tell us we were walking in the wrong direction. I was totally surprised and so impressed that our taxi driver cared enough to come back and point us in the right direction. As you can imagine, I ran across the street to thank him and to also let him know my glove was somewhere on the back seat. Thanks to the kindness of the cab driver, I was not only able to get my glove back, but I also made it for one of the best brunches I’ve had in a long time.
Later in the day, as I thought about the lost glove incident and it reminded me of the website project a Carnegie Mellon University art student, Jennifer Gooch, started called One Cold Hand?. The purpose of the site was to create a place where people from all over the world could report and find lost gloves. The founder describes the site as:
“onecoldhand.com is a project that connects the Pittsburgh community through one unfortunate event - the loss of a glove. The website creates a method for dealing with the conundrum of finding these lost articles. Do you leave it and hope the owner comes back to find it? Do you pick it up? Throw it away? With onecoldhand.com, the abandoned object now becomes a symbol of benevolence and hope.”
—–Jennifer Gooch
I especially like her last sentence “With onecoldhand.com, the abandoned object now becomes a symbol of benevolence and hope.” Many people might have never associated the loss of a glove with benevolence and hope, but I can tell you that had I not found my glove and later came across it on her site, I would have been very happy. It also would have made me feel encouraged to know someone took the time out of their busy schedule to do something for a complete stranger and I would want to do the same for someone else.
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March 11th, 2008
February 11, 2008
This is a really great story about the honesty of one of our readers. The honesty displayed by him was remarkable. He also brings up some very good questions.
I was around 14 years old (I’m 19 now) and was flying to some destination. Midway through the flight, (I had a window seat), I found dollar bill lying just a few inches in front of my feet under the seat in front of me. When I bent down to pick it up, my eyes widened in shock! This was not just a dollar bill, it was an authentic $100 bill! I looked at the guy next to me, (I was flying alone in coach) and in disbelief said, “What would you do if you found a $100 dollars?” He shrugged at me, but then I showed him that I physically had it. He was stunned and I explained to him where I found it. He emphasized that it wasn’t his C-note.
During our decent from 20,000 feet I mustered up the courage to ask the guy directly in front of me if this “Green Ben” was his. He claimed it was, and I gave it to him. I don’t remember if he even said thank you. It was very low key exchange and he didn’t even look behind to see “his” C-Note’s founder. He just reached behind his head rest without looking back.
I shall always wonder if I should have kept it. I mean, what proof did the guy have that he lost a $100 dollars under his seat? Also, don’t you think it’s strange for someone to lose a hundred dollars and not be happy to have it back, much less from a teenager? Anyway, I was honest. Maybe I was too honest.
Sent in by Chase Musgrove
HonestyHonesty
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February 11th, 2008
November 28, 2007
This is an inspiring story about a person that decides to take the time out of her plans and schedule to return a pocketbook she found to its owner.
My sister Fran who lives in Atlanta came to New York and last night I went out to dinner with her, my mother and her girlfriend Toni. One I stepped out of the building there was Toni, very excited with a pocketbook she had just found right there on the sidewalk on E. 48th St between Lexington Ave and 3rd Ave. We looked inside and there was everything; wallet, cash, cell phone cards, etc. etc. etc.
After a short discussion about where we should turn it in, Toni decided to call people’s # on the lady’s cell phone who might know the lady. After a few phone calls we got in touch with a relative who somehow got in touch with the owner of the pocketbook. We went to the restaurant, proceeded to have dinner and within 2 hours the ladies husband contacted us, came back to the restaurant, and retrieved the pocketbook intact with all its contents.
We all commended Toni on her full and complete honesty and the good deed she had performed. By the way, the husband was grateful enough also to invite us to a bottle of wine at our table. A good night was had by all, and Toni should be especially commended for her honesty and diligence in getting that pocketbook into its owners’ hands.
Sent in by Sergio Robin
HonestyHonesty
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November 28th, 2007
September 20, 2007
Have you ever been at a restaurant where the tables are so close to each other that you can hear the person at the table next to you better than the person that is sitting across the table from you? You even have to be careful not to bump elbows. Yeah, you know what I mean. The food at this Persian restaurant in Atlanta is great, so I won’t complain. Okay, so you are probably wondering what this has to do with honesty. Let me tell you…
The lady sitting next to me came back from the restroom quite excited about having found someone’s iPhone. She told about
how while she was washing her hands she heard this cricket-like sound distinct to an iPhone (this is news to me, I don’t have an iPhone yet). So she looked around and eventually found that it was an iPhone. It turns out, the girl that had left it in the bathroom, realized it was missing and started calling her number from another phone in the restaurant. Long story short, the lady that found the iPhone returned the phone to the girl. As you can imagine the girl was quite happy and relieved to have it back.
The lady sitting next to me, went on to tell the gentleman sitting across the table from her (and all of those around her) about another story of a cell phone she and her friends had found in a New York taxi. By this point, we had paid and were heading out of the restaurant. Even though it was a bit awkward hearing the whole conversation next to me, it was great to see first-hand, people being honest and doing the right thing.
HonestyHonesty
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September 20th, 2007
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