Police officer Celeste Jaqueline Ayala feeds a crying baby at a children’s hospital in Berisso, Argentina, in August 2018. Realising he was hungry, she spoke to hospital staff first and then breastfed him herself. Photo: Marcos Heredia / Facebook.
A random act of kindness is a small, unplanned good deed for someone, often a stranger, done without expecting anything back. It can be as simple as buying a coffee, returning a lost phone or leaving an encouraging note. The photos below show twenty real examples, from a police officer who calmed a hungry baby to students who tied scarves to lamp posts for anyone who was cold.
Alongside the pictures you will find where the idea of “random kindness” comes from, what research says about how kindness affects both giver and receiver, and simple ways to try it yourself.
Where the phrase came from
The phrase is usually traced to the writer Anne Herbert. In 1982, in a restaurant in Sausalito, California, she wrote “random kindness and senseless acts of beauty” on a placemat, a playful reversal of the familiar news phrase about random violence and senseless cruelty.
The idea spread by word of mouth and graffiti. In 1993 Herbert self-published a book on it, and the same year editors at Conari Press in Berkeley, who had seen the phrase painted on an overpass, published a collection of readers’ stories called Random Acts of Kindness. It became a bestseller and led to the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, now based in Denver, Colorado.
Help in a moment of need
A police officer feeds a hungry baby
(The Facebook post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
Ayala was on duty on 14 August 2018, which happens to be Argentina’s National Day of the Female Officer, when she met the baby, who police said had recently been separated from his mother. Her colleague Marcos Heredia shared the photograph above, and it was reshared more than 100,000 times. She was promoted from officer to sergeant, and the province’s security minister, Cristian Ritondo, publicly thanked her for “that gesture of spontaneous love that managed to calm the baby’s cry”.
A beached young dolphin goes back to sea
A man wades back into the surf carrying a stranded young dolphin. The Reddit post that spread the photo described him as a mixed martial arts fighter on his day off; his identity was not independently confirmed. If you find a stranded marine mammal, the safest move is to call a local marine rescue line, as some animals are sick and need expert care. Photo: tallproducer / Reddit.
Firefighters rescue an injured owl
Firefighters from Innisfil, Ontario, found an injured owl on their way back from a call. The next day Fire Captain Ayres drove it to an owl sanctuary in the Niagara region, the town shared in November 2018.
Steadying a dizzy shopper
(The Facebook post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
A photo here once showed a Walmart worker holding up a customer who had become dizzy, supporting her back until an ambulance arrived. The original Facebook post has since been removed.
A server helps a guest eat
In this widely shared photo, a restaurant server sits with a woman with a disability and helps her eat, so that she and the man with her can enjoy their meal together. Small accommodations like this let people with disabilities take part in everyday life without fuss.
A grocery run, escorted
A uniformed Safeway employee walks a shopper’s full cart down the street to help get the groceries home. The person who posted it said the shopper was blind. Photo: mlansing115 / Imgur.
Small gifts from strangers
Hot chocolate for hotel staff
On a cold day, an Imgur user bought hot drinks for the staff working outside the Francis Marion, a historic hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. Doormen and valets spend hours outside in all weather, and a warm cup is noticed. Photo: smarterchild3333 / Imgur.
Doughnuts for a fire station
The same user delivered a box of coffee and doughnuts to the Marshfield Fire Department with a thank-you note. Dropping off food at a fire station or hospital is one of the most common thank-you gestures, though many stations prefer sealed, shop-bought items. Photo: smarterchild3333 / Imgur.
A banner for anyone who reads it
This hand-painted banner tells passers-by they need to know how important they are, with a birthday wish for Kara in the corner. The poster said it was hung on “the cistern”, most likely the Cistern Yard at the College of Charleston. Photo: smarterchild3333 / Imgur.
A phone saved from the rain
Someone left their phone on the hood of their car. A stranger sealed it in a plastic bag and tucked it under the windscreen wiper, keeping it safe and dry. Photo: iamabigblackman / Imgur.
Lunch for a stressed neighbour
A woman from the office opposite noticed the poster looked stressed. Later she came back with lunch for him, soup and a sandwich, no questions asked. Photo: BenjaminIsOK / Imgur.
Twenty dollars on a windscreen
At the Appleby GO Station in Burlington, Ontario, a commuter found a yellow envelope marked “Happy Thursday” under the wiper and suspected a parking ticket or a prank. Inside was a $20 note and a message: “Life is hard... Please find enclosed $20.” Photo: slucas87 / Imgur.
Candy before exams
Small bags of sweets and a note of encouragement left for students in the last week of the semester. Exam weeks are one of the most stressful periods of student life, and a little recognition goes a long way. Photo: jepuku / Imgur.
Thank you to ambulance crews
A man named Chris walked up to emergency care assistants Kelly and John at Milton Keynes Hospital in England and handed over a box of doughnuts to thank local ambulance crews, South Central Ambulance Service shared in November 2018.
Supplies for a man and his dogs
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
An Instagram user watched from a window as two people bought dog food, water and supplies for a homeless man and his two dogs. The original post is no longer available.
Organised kindness
Dreams Take Flight
Dreams Take Flight is a volunteer-run Canadian charity that takes children facing hardship on a one-day trip to Disneyland. A volunteer from the Vancouver chapter explains that the children meet at an Air Canada hangar before 4 a.m., fly to Los Angeles, spend about eight hours in the park and are home just before midnight. Pilots, crew and escorts give their time for free, and that year the chapter needed to raise more than $120,000 to take 110 children.
The R.A.K. Rider
A masked motorcyclist known on Instagram as the “R.A.K. Rider” (Random Acts of Kindness Rider) rides a blue sports bike, often in a Santa hat and beard at Christmas, and hands out flowers, toys and small gifts to strangers while keeping his identity private. Photos: r.a.k.rider / Instagram.
A boy gives away a Christmas present
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
In December 2018 a Miami kickboxing gym shared how a young boy, Steven Max Mendez, took one of his own Christmas presents from under the tree and donated it to its toy drive for children in need. The post has since been removed.
Scarves on lamp posts
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
Students from West Virginia Wesleyan College tied dozens of scarves to light poles along Main Street in Buckhannon, West Virginia, for anyone who needed one. (The school is often confused with Wesleyan University in Connecticut.) The local newspaper’s post is no longer online.
Pay it forward
Pay It Forward Effect, a Canadian kindness campaign, shared this winter post encouraging people to keep each other warm through donations. Its message was simple: kindness does not have to cost much.
What research says about kindness
Kindness is not only nice for the person on the receiving end. Studies suggest the giver benefits too:
- In a 2008 study by Elizabeth Dunn, Lara Aknin and Michael Norton, people asked to spend a small sum on someone else ended the day happier than those asked to spend it on themselves, whatever the amount.
- A 2018 workplace experiment led by Joseph Chancellor and Sonja Lyubomirsky found that both givers and receivers of planned acts of kindness showed better wellbeing over the following weeks.
- Research by Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley published in 2023 found that people performing small kind acts consistently underestimated how much the recipient would appreciate them, which may stop many of us from doing them more often.
- Reviews of kindness interventions suggest their effect on wellbeing is similar in size to gratitude exercises: modest, but real.
None of this means kindness is a cure-all. People going through depression or crisis need proper support, and anyone struggling should talk to a doctor. But as everyday habits go, kindness is cheap, easy and good for both sides.
Simple ways to start, and a few myths
Myth: it has to be big to matter. Most of the moments above cost a few dollars or a few minutes. The returned phone cost nothing at all.
Myth: kindness to strangers is risky or awkward. It can be, so keep it simple and respectful. Ask before helping someone with a disability, and offer, rather than insist.
Myth: it only counts if nobody knows. Anonymous giving is lovely, but sharing stories, as many people here did, can encourage others to follow.
A few easy ideas: pay for the next person’s coffee, leave a thank-you note for a delivery driver or cleaner, donate warm clothes before winter, check on an older neighbour, or tell a colleague specifically what they did well. If you do one small thing a week, you have already started.
Sources: CNN: Police officer breastfeeds a baby while on duty (August 2018); Wikipedia: Random act of kindness; Wikipedia: Kindness (research section). Photos: Marcos Heredia (Facebook); tallproducer (Reddit); smarterchild3333 (Imgur); iamabigblackman, BenjaminIsOK, slucas87, mlansing115 and jepuku (Imgur); Instagram posts by the Town of Innisfil, @randomjacksofkindness, r.a.k.rider, South Central Ambulance Service and Pay It Forward Effect Canada.
COMMENTS