Winnipeg Bus Driver Gives Homeless Man The Shoes Off His Feet
Commuters on a Winnipeg bus Tuesday morning became unexpected witnesses to an incredible act of kindness.
According to CBC News, the bus driver pulled over on a corner and began chatting with a homeless man on the street. After a couple of minutes, he removed his shoes and gave them to the barefoot young man. The driver then got back on the bus in his socks and carried on with his route.
Until just 12 years ago, the common view among scientists was that humans were “nasty” at the core but had developed a veneer of morality — albeit a thin one, de Waal told scientists and journalists from some 50 countries.
But human children — and most higher animals — are “moral” in a scientific sense, because they need to cooperate with each other to reproduce and pass on their genes, he said.
It all started two years ago at Corner Perk, a small, locally owned coffee shop, when a customer paid her bill and left $100 extra, saying she wanted to pay for everyone who ordered after her. The staff fulfilled her request, and the woman has returned to leave other large donations every few months. Now, more customers have been leaving money to pay for others’ food. Some people don’t even buy anything when they come in; they just stop to donate and head right back out.
Rats are actually pretty compassionate
In a simple experiment, researchers at the University of Chicago sought to find out whether a rat would release a fellow rat from an unpleasantly restrictive cage if it could. The answer was yes.
The free rat, often hearing distress calls from its compatriot, learned to open the cage and did so with greater efficiency over time. It would release the other animal even if there wasn’t the payoff of a reunion with it. Astonishingly, if given access to a small hoard of chocolate chips, the free rat would usually save at least one treat for the captive – which is a lot to expect of a rat.
Random strangers helping people pay their medical bills
Launched in 2008, IndieGoGo.com enables its users to share their causes and solicit donations from complete strangers. The more than 40,000 campaigns its helped launch have ranged in scope, but the health stories typically center on the same theme. The patients face crippling conditions and can’t afford the care they need.
“I think health care issues and personal health campaigns make sense, because our health care system can be very expensive sometimes,” IndieGoGo founder Slava Rubin told The New York Times. “Sometimes people just need to try a different direction to get funded what they need to get funded.”
Here, 10 readers share their own uplifting tales of how their own Good Samaritan helped them out.
They reveal how the sudden intervention of a complete stranger can transform one’s life for the better – and even save it.
A cafe where you pay what you want.
The idea for Panera Bread’s first nonprofit cafe was to open an eatery where customers paid what they could afford. A month into the honor system experiment, the restaurant is exceeding expectations and paving the way for more locations.
Leading North American Feng Shui specialists have created Carry Out Kindness, an international, grassroots initiative promoting Kindness as the missing link to global prosperity, happiness and success.
“How to Fix Everything”: The Fixers’ Collective gets together every Thursday night in Brooklyn to mend things.
Survival of the Kindest: Researchers challenge the idea that human beings are wired to be selfish.
As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct.
The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness, by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
Pronoia Resources 