People reveal the 10 nicest things strangers have done for them without expecting anything in return

One smile at a time.

Someone very rightly said that while people will remember what you said and did, they will always remember how you made them feel. Kindness might be the most spoken about and somehow, the least practiced thing. Kindness is important for people to have their faith in life reignited and to continue to have hope for a better tomorrow. A question was asked on Reddit by u/naturalenergybyproxy that stated, "What is the nicest thing a stranger has done for you?" A lot of people came forward to answer the question, with stories of hope, love and kindness of their own. We've gone ahead and picked out the best 10 stories that will restore your faith in humanity and goodness.

1. The train tale

A really small thing, but I hope I remember it forever... My son was probably two or three and we went to the mall for some reason. My son liked looking at displays and stuff. Well, there was a model train set in a case that you could put a $1 in and watch them go around for a while. I was pretty broke, if I recall and never had cash on me regardless. He was content just looking at the display. A group of loud mall teens come through and go past. One of them comes back and puts a dollar in the machine and says, "I always liked watching trains too" then hurries off back to his friends. My son lit up. I never would have expected that action from a stranger, let alone a teen with his friends in a mall. u/ess0ess

2. Beauty of a bathroom breakdown

My first wife abandoned us when my son was an infant. It was rough but I survived. One evening I was at dinner with some friends. I had to change the baby, there was no table in the men’s room. I asked a lady leaving the ladies' room if it was empty and she checked for me, gave me the okay. While I was trying to get my diaper bag sorted she came up and offered to change him. I told her I had it but she insisted and put her arm around me. Apparently, I’d been holding in a breakdown the whole time and she saw right through it. I cried for a minute while a total stranger changed my infant son, thanked her profusely and went back to dinner with my friends carrying a little less weight on my shoulders. No clue who she was, but she was an angel to me that night. u/PrintError

3. One kind gesture, all the way to NYC

My flight out of Syracuse was cancelled and when I finally made it to the front desk they told me it would be two days before I could get home. I decided I’d rent a car and drive to NYC to catch a flight out of one of the airports. As I was getting to the counter a woman, who’s flight had also been canceled, announced she was driving to NYC and welcomed anyone to join her. On an impulse, I said yes and we started the journey to NYC. She turned out to be one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. While calling AA to figure out my next situation, the customer service person was incredibly rude and refused to do anything - eventually hanging up on me. Seeing I was frustrated/upset, this wonderful woman proceeded to call customer service agents over the next two hours. I would explain my situation and she would pretend to be my mother and ask for a solution. Ended up getting fully refunded and booked on another flight the next morning. I was planning on just sleeping in JFK until my flight but she offered her couch in her apartment and a hot shower. I refused at first, but the prospect of a hot shower after such a stressful day was too much for me to pass up. I still think about her often and wonder if she realizes how big of an impact her kindness had on me. u/dicyclopentadiene22

4. What goes around, comes around

I helped a guy go through TSA at La Guardia in NYC. Around 2008ish. He'd never flown before, had no idea what he could take on the plane, how much, etc. Security told him he couldn't use his plastic bags he has his stuff in. Anyway, what rattled me was the fact that he was shoving pairs of very new Nikes into a trash bin- I couldn't fathom why, so I went to ask. He explained his situation, so I told him that if he held tight, I'd go through security, buy him a carry-on so he could get his stuff through. He handed me a hundred and I gave him my crochet project bag to hold as insurance. Got him a suitcase, went back and gave him it and the change and showed him how to go through, remove your belt and shoes, etc. He thanked me and we hugged, going our own ways. My flight was delayed by three hours at the last minute and I was already exhausted. I used my purse as a pillow and covered up with my coat and fell asleep against a wall. When I woke up, there was a fuzzy travel blanket, a convertible neck pillow, eye mask, a bag of cookies and a little plush dog with a note tucked in his collar. He stuck this gift between me and the wall and never woke me up. I ended up traveling for 11 more hours and that thoughtful little package saved my sanity. Random airport dude, I'm glad you got to keep your kicks and I still have the puppy. I named him LG. u/berthejew

5. Saved from a long walk in the woods

I'm a bit of a town mouse, but I spent a summer in the country with relatives as a teenager. Very rural, with miles between some houses. I love long walks and one sunny day I decided to take a very nice one. There was this big road that led around the area in a circle. Looked like a good couple of hours of strolling. This was before smartphones, so I couldn't gauge the distance perfectly, but I was convinced I could handle it. Grabbed a soda and a freshly charged MP3 player and set out in the afternoon, convinced I would be back by dinner. I had made a bad misjudgment of the scale. After several hours of walking, I was nowhere near home. My phone had no signal (dumb*** city slicker me hadn't even considered that), there were no streetlights and no cars. It was getting dark and I could barely see the road beneath my feet. Chances of a Leatherface attack had gone up about 1000%. Houses were extremely far apart too. I passed one and knocked on the door, but no one was home. I seriously debated going to sleep on their porch and hoping someone would eventually turn up, but in the end I kept walking. Finally, I found a house with a light on. I banged on the door and a middle-aged woman answered. The first words out of her mouth were to straight up ask if I was there to rob her. Refreshingly direct, really. I assured her I was harmless and explained my situation. Her demeanor flipped 100% from suspicious to charitable. I had just hoped to use her phone, but she insisted on driving me home herself and also on feeding me. The route she took continued around the loop and I realized that I had barely made it halfway and hers was the last house for a very long while and things got a lot more woodsy after that. If she hadn't helped me I would have been walking all night through the woods. u/LupinThe8th

6. The unspoken act of kindness

I once got on a train late at night. I was going from start to end of the line to change, which was nearly an hour journey. When I got on the train, there were two other people. One young man and a much older, grumpy-looking man. After the second stop, the young man became aggressive toward me for rejecting him and was trying to pull me off the train to do god knows what to me and the old man helped me get him off the train and away from me. After I thanked him and he calmed me down (I was very upset), he sat down in the row behind me and looked out of the window. When I got off, he did too, he waited on the same platform as me, just further down from me, so I assumed he was waiting for the same connection. He wasn't. Train comes and I get on. I see him stand up, wave and walk to the stairs to get back to the platforms going the other way. That man had missed his stop, waited on the wrong platform and then went right on back all while saying nothing just to make sure I was okay. I think about that man often. I wish I could thank him for that. u/tinylottie

7. The kindest couple in church

In college, my car broke down halfway through my third year and one week into my new job about 20 minutes away. A lady from my church (who I had never met) called me and asked me if I was interested in an ‘04 Toyota Corolla (it was 2011 at the time). I lived about a five-minute walk from the church and she told me to walk down and give it a test drive. I was previously driving around an ‘89 Thunderbird, so I assumed I probably couldn’t afford it, but decided I’d meet her anyway. I get there and she shows me the car. Great condition, 89k miles—no way I can afford it. She sees my face and before I can admit that, she says, “Let’s go for a drive. Have you had lunch?” She has me drive to lunch, which she pays for and stops for ice cream on the way back. "Nothing like ice cream in the winter!" she says with a little smile. Some time passes and we’re about finished with our ice cream. "Okay now, let’s talk details," she says, "Do you like the car?" "Oh yes, it’s lovely, but I —" "Do you think it’ll meet your needs?" "Yes, but —" "Well then, my husband and I were thinking and we remember how hard college can be, so how would $500 sound?" At this point I’m stunned. I paid more for my clunker! u/ashleyhype

8. Nothing a chocolate bar and kind gesture can't improve 

I was once feeling really down cause of school and just life in general. I stopped at a convenience store on the way home to pick up a bit of chocolate to make myself feel better. The guy at the register must have noticed how miserable I was looking, because he let me have the chocolate bar for free. It was a really simple act of kindness, but it almost made me tear up in that convenience store and instantly improved a sh**ty day. u/angry__donkeys

9. Lucky accident

When I was 11, I was stupid enough to cross in front of a bus with only a cursory glance backwards and I missed the minivan that had just started to overtake the bus. I got hit by the left-hand corner and flung across the road, injuring my legs (my knee still hurts sometimes all this time later) and splitting my lower lip. As I lay there, a lady who I had seen on the bus a few times came over and helped me over to the curb, checked me over, made sure my parents were called, made sure an ambulance was called and generally looked after a scared, tearful, hurt little boy. She was wonderful and I still see her around to this day and she always gives me a big smile when I wave hello. u/DigitalRoman486

10. It was a good cake 

My birthday one year was really sucking. I decided to go buy myself a cake at the grocery store and get it decorated, because it was my birthday and I wanted something nice. When the guy at the counter asked who it was for (in retrospect he meant what name to put on it) and I said it was for me, he was incredulous that I had to buy my own birthday cake. I just kind of shrugged and went out to finish shopping for groceries. He said my cake would need to be paid for at pickup. When I came back to pay for and pick up my cake, a different person was at the register and she said my cake had been paid for. It was also decorated a bit more than I thought it should have been. I have not seen that guy working there since and in my head, I've called him the cake fairy. It was a good cake. I still cried eating it because the entire day sucked, but it was a good cake. u/mamblepamble