What is the nicest thing you've done for anyone?

gave my younger sister $10K so she'd have a down payment for a house. gave my older sister $6K for various things over the past few years. i don't even get so much as a birthday or Christmas card from either of them to this day. not even an e-mail wishing me happy birthday. they're family though, so whatcha gonna do?

I really enjoy doing small acts of kindness for people, so I like to think I have a pretty good list.

Last week a family friend was in an accident, she is in the hospital with a broken spine, wrists and ankles. Her husband has had to travel across the country to be with her. My sister and I have taken responsibility for their kids (ages 1 & 3) in the meantime.
We're setting up daycare for them, planning a benefit fundraiser, and have their house spotless.

I'm not going to lie- We are far from perfect with kids, but it's going to be a long recovery and we'll likely be keeping them for a few months. Their parents are low-income and stretched pretty far as is, so we do intend to pay for daycare, food, clothes and everything else ourselves. So far so good!

Wow, what a great thread! Everyone's stories are so amazing.

I like to think I've done a lot of nice little things over the years--I've volunteered at food banks, donated money to charities, given friends rides when I could, paid for someone else's order at Starbucks, given a homeless guy food, etc.

But probably the most meaningful thing I've done is volunteer every December (this will be my 3rd year and the 4th anniversary for the event) for a photography event called Help-Portrait. It's a non profit organization that one day every year takes family portraits for people who are in shelters or associated with various social service agencies...they get to get their hair and makeup done, can borrow a dress shirt or blouse if necessary, also get a free meal and the kids get a visit and photos with Santa and get some toys. Both years that I've participated I've had someone come up to me and tell me how much it means to them to have a photo to send to a parent or grandchild...or just to have someone brush their hair or make them look "spruced up." It means so much to them to feel cared about.

a good portrait certainly isn't a basic necessity of life, like food, clothes, or shelter...but it is definitely a way to make people feel good about themselves.

Anyway...this thread made me really happy. You're all awesome.

I try to do nice things as much as possible, but I'd say paying for a year of my Niece's gymnastics when her dirt-bag father left her family was pretty nice... felt good to do it that's for sure...

I've never told my mother what an *kitten* she is.
I've never told my father how much I hated him (not anymore).
I've never told my brother he's a freaking loser who needs to grow the f up and be a responsible adult (he's older then me).

I figure these are the nicest things I've ever done. Sometimes silence is kindness.

The Silent Killer......................

I forgave myself for being human.

This is actually brilliant.

Offhand, I'd have to say that the nicest thing I've done is birth two daughters and raise them to adulthood as educated, generous, self-sufficient, and well-balanced women.

I forgave myself for being human.

That's a great response, I gave myself that one too...

Ahh, you all have me crying over here.

I'M CRYING TOO! :sad:

ME TOO:sad:

When I was living in Utah and my family was still in Nevada, I was talking to my mom on the phone one day and she told me about a woman she knew who was in Nevada and was just frantic because her brother was in the ER in Salt Lake and they didn't expect him to live. She couldn't leave her elderly father to go to her brother and was just hysterical about him dying all alone. So I volunteered to go. It wasn't until I got halfway there that my mom called me back and told me he was homeless off and on and was in the final stages of AIDS. I slowed my car a bit. I didn't know either of these people. I thought about it for few minutes and then knew how I would feel if it was my brother, so I went. They ended up transferring him to a VA hospital. He couldn't talk and was slightly puzzled by the woman sitting by his bedside, holding his hand, chattering at him and wiping the crap from his mustache when he coughed it up. It took three days. He passed around 11:00 pm on the third night. I was singing to him when he took his last breath. But the way he looked at me before he closed his eyes for the last time made it all worth it. I met his sister a year later and to this day, there isn't anything she wouldn't do for me, but really, it was my privilege.

this story touched me. probably because i have no way to thank all the volunteers that visited my dad when he was in hospice. it means the world knowing he was cared for when i could not be there for him.