Lost and Found Glove in Manhattan - Good Deeds Story #2

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.

Add comment March 11th, 2008

Going Out of Your Way - Good Deeds Story #3

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

Add comment March 14th, 2008