Story 1

I was on a bus, seven months pregnant. An old woman got in; no one gave her a seat, so I offered her mine. She sat down and kept staring into my eyes.

As she was leaving, she slipped something heavy into my pocket and whispered, “Always put yourself and your child first! Otherwise, your life will be as heavy as this!” Then she quickly stepped off the bus.

I reached into my pocket in a hurry to see what she had given me. I took it out and froze. My blood ran cold. She had given me a large, heavy stone.

This woman had the audacity to repay my kindness with anger and bitterness. But instead of accepting her lesson, I chose the opposite path. I decided to be kind and to teach my child kindness because I know the world needs more of it—even if some people don’t deserve it.

Story 2
I had a bad day. Missed two buses. I was furious when I arrived at my stop, knowing that I had to wait another two hours.

An old man was sitting there, enjoying some chocolate. He calmly told me, “Anger mostly means you have a lot of sorrow.” With that one sentence, he made me realize how irrelevant my anger was. I calmed down quickly.

 

Story 3
I was working to pay my way through university when a woman approached me at my job (I was gathering carts for a supermarket). As I was pushing a line of carts into the store, the woman and her son walked up to me. She then pointed at me and said, “This is why we stay in school.”

To this day, I still get angry because of that obscene comment.

Story 4
A lady came up to me at the mall and said, “Your skin looks horrible. You should really go to a dermatologist.”

The worst part was that it made me feel even worse because, although I had gone before, I couldn’t afford the medication.

Story 5
I was 18 or 19, with a tiny hip tattoo that could be seen just peeking over the waist of my jeans. I was at the mall with a friend when an older man came up to me, looked me in the eye, and said, “You’re very beautiful.”

Flabbergasted and not expecting that, I stuttered, “T-thanks?” Immediately, he stared at the tattoo and said, “It’s a shame you ruined your body like that,” then stormed away.

I was so shocked I didn’t react and didn’t realize how rude his comment was until later.