PPOT- Go do something nice NOW thread.
 

Lot's of drama next store today. Involved gunshots, mental health....whatever..

The details do not matter.
The outcome does.
Please-
Go make the world a better place. Do something nice for a stranger. Go make a difference.
People are stressed right now.
Help where you can.
Report back.
TIA,
Ron

Going to Camp Sunday!
 

Scouting BSA Camp (Camp Merz on Lake Chautauqua, NY) with my Troops (Scoutmaster for both our boys troop and our girls troop). Teaching Engineering Merit Badge while I'm there. I don't have kids in the program any longer, so I guess that's a good that's a good deed!

Thanks for the heads up. I need to work on this.

Be well.

My friends kid, can’t take credit for him, but he was working at the grocery store and couldn’t help but overhear a woman telling a friend about a tough time she was having.

Michael went and bought her flowers, the woman was reduced to tears by the gesture. She doesn’t know him or his family so she posted a thank you to the local FB moms group hoping that it would Michael’s mom and she would know how much she appreciated him and his mom for having raised him like she did.

That little interaction brightened the day for a lot people. Not just the woman and Michael, but his mother who did see the post and all of us that read about it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Paying it forward - and will never be able to pay enough for what I have gratefully received.

1. Have cold bottles of water in my garage mini-fridge to give out to those who frequent the premises. Mail carrier, UPS/FedEx/Amazon, meter reader, waste management workers, utility workers, dog walkers - and yes the dogs have their own bowl here too!

2. Tips to those who work for a living - pest control techs, restaurant wait staff, contractors, waste management workers, mail carriers, etc, etc....

3. Kindness to local wildlife - eyes on the road while driving. Stop to rescue - here mostly turtles.

4. How about when someone's trash can blows over into the road? Do you stop and reset it for them?

5. Take a minute to reach out to a friend you haven't heard from in a while. Mail off a card - just to say "Hi." Send a condolences card when applicable. In particular when they lose a pet....

6. Holding one's tongue - you never know what someone else is going through. And besides....who are we to judge?

7. Drop off some flowers to your local doctor's office - and your dentist. Or (fill in the blank). You can buy inexpensive vases on Amazon for this (I have two different styles). Get an inexpensive bunch at the grocery store - under five bucks - that's all that's needed. Hint: white mums last the longest!

8. Give an encouraging word to a young person wherever possible. A compliment - such as "You are a natural at this - you have a future in sales!" is an old standby for me.

9. Amazon let's you send a gift to someone so easily - if you have their name and address - it's just a few key strokes away. I just sent something yesterday - it was under $10 - felt great!

10. Wave to those walking their dogs when you drive by. My usual is a peace sign. A thumbs up would also do the trick....

Love - it makes the world go around......

On reflection. I meet up at Starbucks each Friday with some buds. I have been paying with a card as I ditched my cash last year. I brought “catchup “ tip money today.

Also, my youngest daughter turns 17 tomorrow. I buy her one rose for each year on her birthday.

I bought extras and gave them to my awesome neighbor lady who is struggling with her husband after a stroke.

I gave my MIL a really nice compliment in front of the whole family at dinner.

This is cool. I didn’t realize some of the positive things I had all ready done!

Makes me feel better about being me.

I think I'll go listen to some music and hand out dollar bills to some single Mom's.

Quite common for me to buy a tank of gas for people who are down and out and need to get to work or go home.

True benevolence. You're a good man, Charlie Brown! :D

I love the idea about encouraging others to do something "good" but am not a big fan of reporting what a great guy I am.
Those who don't believe in God call it "virtue signaling". I'd rather applaud what someone else has done. (No reflection on what others chose to do).

Something different but doing good:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658585366.jpg

Saw this last night, had just returned from a fishing trip. Had stopped and helped someone with a flat tire in the middle of nowhere in a no-cell-service zone on the way home.

I was sort of shocked that I had done some pretty nice things yesterday. Not tooting my horn. This thread is a cool nudge. We should all think about benevolence. Daily.

+1
There is an old expression: The tune sounds sweeter when someone else is blowing your horn"

This thread's more a wakeup call to myself that people really ARE stressed. A close neighbor just snapped. While I got a free pair of sunglasses out of the deal, his neighbor across the street got a bullet hole in his car. Lots of kids in around. Not a good situation. Everyone is okay fortunately. About reporting if you did something good or not, I don't care if you toot your horn or not. What happened is still sinking in a bit.

About reporting the good deeds though, what inspired me to say that was this-
Kind of funny- yesterday, as I was coming home, to see if our house had been shot up, there was a guy in a parking lot who was about to fall over. He really needed a walker, and there was nothing for him to lean on. He was walking back from paying for gas and he just ran out of steam. Having some orthopedic problems myself, I know what it's like to get caught in the middle of no where. I went over to help. He had just gotten out of the hospital for breaking his back. I helped him the best I could, he was a big guy, but with my own screwed up leg and limp, I wasn't in much better shape than he was. We both held each other like an old couple, laughing at what crappy walkers we both were. :D

I've always said we're all in this together.

So true......

Thanks for this thread, Ron. And for being who you are.....

I quit being nice long ago, been crapped on long enough. Sorry, dog eat dog world. Nobody really cares, its every man for himself.;)

It's not often a post actually makes me laugh. In fact, it's quite rare.

Ya got me, Craigster!

_

While we're talking about random acts of kindness... When was the last time you guys brought some flowers home for the wife for no reason at all? It has a much greater impact than a big expensive present on a birthday, anniversary, or holiday.

Every 3-4 weeks except in the lead up to Valentines when things get stupid-taxed.

I explained this to the then-girlfriend 28 years ago before our first V-day together... she's cool with it, and stuck with me. 30 years in September.

Thanks for reminding us..allways be nice, expecting nothing in return is the best way to give

All excellent ideas. The other day I was riding my road bike and a ball rolled across the road. I stopped and rolled it back to the kids. My ridding buddy asked why I did that. I said it was a nice thing to do. Maybe kids won't hate old cyclists so much. Certainly not a big deal but maybe these small acts will add up to something.

So I get a call from my "Mailboy" at work. Someone sent me a gift card. I didn't expect it. Don't know why I got it. Didn't see it as I work from home. I tell the Mailboy to keep it.

He calls me back two days later sort of out of breath. It seems that the gift card has more zeros than one might expect. He says he can't take it.

I asked him if he could use it.

He can. He is poor. He pushes back.

I insist.

He goes on about how this is such a big deal and etc.

Pretty sure it makes me feel better to help a guy out. I certainly don't miss it.

So Yay to the cosmos who somehow sent me a gift card I didn't expect or need.

Not to blow my horn but hopefully some of you will have cool stuff happen to you.

Be well!

I failed at this recently, and feel bad about it.

Was at optometrist. Older guy with a walker, looked not affluent if you will, came in with his eyeglass prescription, asked if they could fill it and bill Medicare the $200, they said no, and he left. I caught up with him outside, and asked him to come back and I’d pay for his eyeglasses. He said no need, he was headed to a place that would bill Medicare, but thanks. I realized later, back at the optometrist, that I could have given him the money that his eyeglasses would have cost. I didn’t think of it in time, normally I don’t have much cash on me but that day I happened to have a few hundred $ in my wallet. I also realized, after talking to the optometrist, that he might not have been telling the truth about the place that would bill Medicare.

I was once at the convenience store and realized I’d forgotten my wallet. As usual I was dressed like a homeless person (that’s if you believe my wife’s constant complaint; I don’t think I look that bad). An elegantly dressed black lady paid for whatever I was trying to buy (I forget what it was, probably $10 worth). I’ve never forgotten that.

Another time, I was standing on the corner in Milan holding my daughter who was a baby at the time, I was very tanned dark-skinned, dressed in worn light-weight clothes, and surrounded by battered luggage, because we’d just spent three months in Australia, New Zealand and Bali where it was full-on summer. It was a freezing January morning and beautifully dressed Italians came up and gave me money. I’ve never forgotten that either. (I took the money.)

So, I need to do better.

I gave a sad looking Scottish beggar in Matera in southern Italy 20 euros as I felt sorry for him

30 mins later he was slumped over, eyes glazed over, spaced out but looking a lot happier

Was a good lesson for me that no good deed goes unpunished

^^^That is depressing.

Great story
But you did

It’s great to encourage goodness to others.
And I’ve also been taught that if I do something nice for someone - and then tell anyone about it - that it doesn’t count…

I think reading about others doing things encourages and reminds us to do them ourselves.

I also think that mentioning the good things you’ve done is not any less seemly than mentioning your neat car, new spoon, etc.

Again, I think it is great to motivate one another to do something nice to improve the world we live in but IMO:
"I bought myself X..." - Brag but at least I am transparent about it.
"I gave away X to help my fellow man..." - Humble Brag. I want to promote myself in the eyes of others. But, my opinion doesn't count. I just think that it speaks much more about a person when they don't announce their great deed.

Levels of charity:
1. A person gives but is not happy when s/he digs into the pocket in order to give.
2. A person gives pleasantly, but gives less than s/he should/could.
3. A person gives, but only when asked by a poor person.
4. A person gives without having to be asked, but gives directly to the poor. The poor person knows he gave the help, and the giver knows who was benefited
5. A person gives a donation in a certain place, but walks away so that the giver does not know who received the benefit. The poor person knows the giver however.
6. A person makes a donation to a poor person secretly. The giver knows who was benefited, but the poor person does not know who the giver was.
7. A person contributes anonymously to a fund which is then distributed to the poor.
8. The highest level of charity is to give money and help to prevent another person from becoming poor. For example, teaching a person a trade, finding them a job, etc.
(taken from a very old teaching)

Let me throw this out. I am not very charitable. I know it. And it is something to work on.

Agree with the levels of charity.

I find this thread fascinating and compelling. And, the OP may have changed my behavior? Certainly called attention to it.

All of which are good. Planet Earth could use more nice folks about now.

I carry packets of cookies or nuts, never give anyone on the street cash

One beautiful sunny day in San Francisco about 30 years ago, I saw this young girl, 18 maybe, sitting on the sidewalk on Judah St in front of a laundramat with a sign that says. "Pregnant and Homeless, Help"

I was going to school, had a couple jobs, because I always seemed to have more than one, so there was dough in my pocket. There was this little market about 4 blocks from where she was where I always shopped, because they had fantastic produce, and it was close to the Yellow Submarine sandwich shop. I would get a drink at the market, get a sandwich and go sit in the park, that was practically across the street. If you are ever in SF, the place is at 5th and Irving, get a hot sandwich, trust me.

So I walk to this market, buy a bag of groceries, they used to have fresh sourdough bread there that was great, everyplace in San Francisco has good sourdough bread really though. I take my $20 worth of grub back to this girl sitting on the sidewalk. I go to give it to her, show her the bread and fresh fruit, and she says, don't you have any money? I had some money, now I have some groceries. Took a bite of the bread and walked home.

I guess I should say, now, I carry packets of nuts and cookies

Virginia has a red flag law....
I'd contact ACPD and let them know about his return, his history here and his history at the other house.

When the MIL went into care last fall, I noticed on their schedule of activities for the month there were some blanks. My wife mentioned I played and sang so within a short time I was on the schedule as a regular volunteer. In a facility with 50 residents, about half of them are able to be brought or assisted to the common room.
After the first couple of performances, I realized I was not getting the era of their preferred music (I was doing 40s and 50s, they were looking for more recent music). Eventually I worked up a booklet with 250 songs which got passed around so they could request songs they wanted to hear. (Irish Rovers The Orange and the Green is a favorite!)
40 years ago, my parents were doing pretty much the same thing. I would like to think they would approve.

Best
Les

Driving around my small rural town saw a homeless guy with a cardboard sign at an intersection. I stopped next door and bought 3 hoagie sandwiches and muffins for him. Bummer that he'd left his corner and was no where to be found..........well the thought was there. I never give them money, and I had several days of lunches off those Hoagie rolls.

Hey,YOU decided to get a 944 😝