This tale of how these strangers helped a man considering self-harm will warm your chilly bones
It began when writer Nicole Cliffe asked people to share the kindest thing a stranger had ever done or said to them.
https://twitter.com/Nicole_Cliffe/status/1102646743659773953
It prompted some amazing and heartwarming replies.
When I was 8 mos pregnant I slipped on some ice & fell, knocked out cold. When I came to, there was a crowd of strangers around me, all without coats (this was in Saskatchewan, Canada in December). Their coats, I realized, were all on top of me, except the one under my head.
— suzy (elena) krause (@krausesuzy) March 4, 2019
I was 8 and at the park district pool and boys were making fun of me for being fat and as I started walking away crying this gorgeous college-age woman sprung to my defense and got them kicked out and then she had me come over to hang out with her gorgeous coed friends
— rachel (@madamradams) March 4, 2019
I fainted on the subway once and a kind, elderly Chinese woman who spoke no English waited with me, held my hand, and fed me grapes while we waited for the EMTs. When they finally came, she patted my hand three times and put my hand on her heart before leaving.
— Lauren Rankin (@laurenarankin) March 4, 2019
I'd lost my job, my laptop fried, and my car broke down, all within 2 days.
I was sitting in the car shop, worrying quietly to a friend on the phone abt the cost, then 10mins later the mechanic handed me my keys & said the lady ahead of me overheard & paid for the repair. 😭
— Erica Wilkinson (@EverywhereErica) March 4, 2019
i also once walked by a burly construction worker who called out, "That colour really works on you!"
— Anna Fitzpatrick (@bananafitz) March 4, 2019
But none of them resonated quite so much with people as this one.
Oh God I can’t even tell this story and not cry.
I used to manage an LGBT bookstore, when bookstores were still a thing. One night, a caller says he thinks he might be gay and is considering self-harm. We were not a crisis center!
But as long as we’re talking, he’s safe, right?— 💁🏼♂️ (@TweetChizone) March 4, 2019
So I talk to this guy and I answer questions, and I try to be encouraging and I’m maybe sounding a little frantic and I’m definitely ignoring the 4-5 customers in the store, and this angel of a woman puts her hand on my shoulder and asks for the phone.
“My turn,” she says.— 💁🏼♂️ (@TweetChizone) March 4, 2019
And SHE, this 50-something lesbian talks to this stranger on the phone. And a LINE FORMS BEHIND HER. Every customer in that store knows that call, knows that feeling, and every person takes a turn talking to that man.
That story comforts me so much to this day.— 💁🏼♂️ (@TweetChizone) March 4, 2019
And here are just a few of the things people said about it.
This is so kind I cannot
— Nicole Cliffe (@Nicole_Cliffe) March 4, 2019
All of these stories are amazing, but this made me sob and call my mother.
— Jenner (@jenneraustin) March 4, 2019
There's a stage play in this
— John P. Dowgin (@johndowgin) March 4, 2019
I'm in tears.
— Dave Rublin🖖 (@DaveBngDave) March 5, 2019
You can contact the Samaritans for free from any telephone on 116 123.