10 Everyday Superheroes That Inspired People To ‘Pay It Forward’

Some days it feels like people are a hopeless cause and there are no good souls left out there. But then you come across an appreciative post for someone’s random act of kindness and the world feels hopeful again. 

#1

Image source: Warlizard, Nicole Michalou

Met a guy on the train to East Germany. We ended up partying the night away, becoming good friends, and I spent Christmas with him, his family, and his ridiculously hot GF.

That was the last good meal I had before we deployed to the Gulf.

I remember being blown away by how gracious and kind his parents were toward me. Plus, he bought me a “New Kids on the Block” Christmas album. It was such a catastrophically poor gift but the thought was there.

So now I always invite friends over for holidays, try to go overboard on gifts to friends.

Thanks Thorsten.

EDIT: Well this took an unexpected turn. Thanks to MarkG1 who suggested I try Facebook, I’m now just about reunited with my old friend. I tried different spellings of his last name (I was way the f**k off) and there he was. Unbelievable. Every time I get mad at Reddit for some stupid thing, something like this happens. Jesus…

EDIT 2: Damn, he’s still a cook!

EDIT 3: I wish my German skills hadn’t disintegrated…

EDIT 4: He just responded. Yep, he’s been looking for me too. He said he and his parents still talk about that Christmas. This is awesome.

#2

Image source: pamplemoussent, cottonbro studio

My first weekend of college, my friends and I ended up at a party in an apartment. I made a dumb move and took a drink from a guy i’d just met – a few minutes later I was sitting on the stairs starting to fall asleep. A nice Jewish boy (wearing a yarmelke) saw that something was wrong with me, gave his number to my roommate and walked me home. he said that he recognized what was happening to me as a sign of a possible date drugging, and he didn’t want me to be a victim because it had happened to his sister.

#3

Image source: anon, Pixabay

A good samaritan pulled my unconscious body out of my flaming car wreck, waited for the ambulance to arrive, then disappeared. I will never know who saved my life, but rarely a day goes by that I don’t think about them.

#4

Image source: anon, Ruslan Alekso

Ok, here goes.

My SO at the time has a decent walk from the subway every night. On her way home she notices these 2 sketchy dudes following her. She hopes that she is just paranoid, but nonetheless continues to walk at a faster pace and she barely has time to look back a second time that one of the guys has grabbed her purse strap and the other has her grocery bags.

She starts yelling at the top of her lungs… From across the street, second floor she hears ” hey you f*****s, what the f**k you doing, imma f**k you guys up!!!”

Out runs this shoe-less, shirtless, long-haired metal head with an electric guitar that he is swinging like Conan the barbarian… (Two-handed-overhead-helicopter-swings, would be the best decription).

And he is screaming like Braveheart or something similar… The two “thugs” must have seen the “crazed” look in this guys eyes but they bolted real fast!

Upon my GF’s return home, she explains what had happened. I had to go and thank this guy in person and shake his hand for beeing bad-a*s and avoiding what I assume could’ve been a tragedy.

We actually became friends and went to see a couple live gigs together. (Lamb Of God and Parkway Drive).

I have since done many good deeds with this “chivalrous” story in mind and I look forward to my chance to threaten to beat someone with a Guitar :)

#5

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Image source: synthesizerToady, Pixabay

Ok, here goes.

My SO at the time has a decent walk from the subway every night. On her way home she notices these 2 sketchy dudes following her. She hopes that she is just paranoid, but nonetheless continues to walk at a faster pace and she barely has time to look back a second time that one of the guys has grabbed her purse strap and the other has her grocery bags.

She starts yelling at the top of her lungs… From across the street, second floor she hears ” hey you f*****s, what the f**k you doing, imma f**k you guys up!!!”

Out runs this shoe-less, shirtless, long-haired metal head with an electric guitar that he is swinging like Conan the barbarian… (Two-handed-overhead-helicopter-swings, would be the best decription).

And he is screaming like Braveheart or something similar… The two “thugs” must have seen the “crazed” look in this guys eyes but they bolted real fast!

Upon my GF’s return home, she explains what had happened. I had to go and thank this guy in person and shake his hand for beeing bad-a*s and avoiding what I assume could’ve been a tragedy.

We actually became friends and went to see a couple live gigs together. (Lamb Of God and Parkway Drive).

I have since done many good deeds with this “chivalrous” story in mind and I look forward to my chance to threaten to beat someone with a Guitar :)

#6

Image source: BeyondAddiction, Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto

I didn’t have the best childhood. My adoptive father has some unconventional parenting methods, and so I used to cry a lot. On one such occasion I was sitting on a park bench, crying softly to myself. I was trying to be discreet but I couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 at the time. An old lady sat at the other end of the bench and we sat in relative silence for a few minutes (I would sniffle occasionally but I was trying to be quiet). She clearly noticed me wiping my eyes and asked me if I was ok. I told her I was, but she insisted on taking me to a nearby coffee cart and buying me a cup of hot chocolate (it was winter). It was the nicest thing she could have done for me and it was really nice to know that someone cared.

#7

Image source: Sykotik, Lena Shekhovtsova

I was 15 and I owned a moped. It was late and raining and this car did not see me as it turned left across my lane. I was t-boned going about 30mph. The car hit me right in my left thigh and my upper body hit and rebounded off of the hood, I flew maybe 20 feet before hitting the pavement. My left thigh snapped in two when the car hit me. I’m laying on the ground screaming for help when this guy comes up and kneels down with a knee on either side of my head so I can’t move it around. He does his best to keep me calm and keep the rain off of me until the EMS guys show up and put me in traction and take me to the hospital. During that time the guy is asking me my name and address, making sure I’m coherent. After they took me away he drove to my parents house and informed them that I was in an accident and mostly okay and that they should go to the hospital to see me. He wanted to make sure they got there as soon as possible and thought it would be less jarring than the police showing up at their door. I never got a chance to thank him either but I think about him and his kindness from time to time. I hope one day I can do something similar for someone in distress.

**tl;dr: Hit by a car, random man sits with me and then tells my parents what happened.**

#8

Image source: AnonymousJimmy, Dids

Hmm, it was a dark, cold and damp thursday night when I was taking a walk in my suburban neighborhood when I was 13 year’s old. I often go for walks, especially during night because it feels refreshing and I like not being able to be seen by people when I walk. Anyways, a dark truck pulls up to me and the man roles down the window, inside is a middle aged man who made eye contact with me before saying anything. He proceeded to ask me “how are the kids?” Not knowing what to do, I thought it must have been someone who lived near me and recognized me, so I tried to be friendly and responded “haha I’m only 13.” He then said “for a dirty mex, i thought you’d have 5 by now.” I was shocked, partly because of this crude remark by some middle aged white guy in a truck and partly because I’m chinese, not mexican. I guess during the night he couldn’t see me clear enough. Anyways, I felt the situation was getting pretty sketchy so I started to walk forward. I wanted to cross a street when I noticed that this man was going to follow me. As I tried to cross the street, he sped up and pulled over to block my way. This was when I realized he was up to no good. His headlights were blaring perpendicular to where I was while I was in the complete dark. Out of nowhere, two neighborhood dog’s come running towards me. They were two huge half huskies. I recognized them as my neighbor’s dogs that he would often let run around his yard and around the neighborhood without a leash. I had always thought that to be dangerous for the dog’s incase of cars, but they never got hit or into any harm. They came dashing towards me barking so loudly not a ear in the entire street could have ignored them. That’s when the driver pressed his gas pedal full force and tried to get out of there. He thought that the dog’s meant that there must have been an owner with them coming to check up on me. However, little did he know that it was just the two neighborhood dog’s coming towards me themselves without my neighbor. They had perhaps saved me from being kidnapped or injured by this strange man in his truck. To this day, (I’m 16 now) I am super grateful for both of those dog’s being there. I try to return the favor by playing with them when our neighbor is busy and keeping them company with treats and dog toys.

#9

Image source: beliefinphilosophy, Stanley Morales

When I was younger I had abusive parents, like really abusive parents, one night in the middle of a snowstorm they threw me outside in the snow with no shoes or socks and in a tshirt. It was freezing cold. I was wandering around the neighborhood behind the houses because I was too embarassed.

Suddenly, a neighbor of mine, (17ish) was sitting on his window smoking and looking at the snow. He saw me, asked what the hell I was doing, I just gave him this look and he leaned out his window, grabbed me by the arms and hauled me up into his window. He gave me some blankets and let me sit there in the warmth for awhile and we just small talked and he put on a movie. A little while later my mother came by, saw him and asked if he had seen me. He instantly, without hesitating told her no, and watched until she left before helping me back home.

At the time, it was the kindest thing anyone had ever done for me, the only person who had ever protected me from my abusive parents. Since then I’ve always been doing my best to help my friends and acquaintances from their abusive families or relationships.

TL;DR It can feel so alone being in an abusive situation, and the feeling of having someone protect you never goes away. Pay that s**t forward.

#10

When I was in college, I was out with some friends at a bar and having too much of a good time. I drank a little bit too much tequila when this creeper guy starts buying the group drinks. We were all a little too f****d up to think of saying no, plus you can woo any broke college kids with free booze. He joined our booth and he put his arm around me at some point. Later on I got up to use the bathroom, and obviously did not notice him following me. As I walked into the restroom, a girl was walking out and presumably saw the guy following me in there as she came in about a minute after with the bouncer, catching the creeper trying to break down the stall door. Creeper got thrown out, and random woman saved the day.

Now, I always make it a point to look out for overly drunk girls at the bar. I’ve pulled quite a few girls aside to ask them if they were all right, if they were at the bar alone or with friends, and if they knew the guys they were talking to, and put them in cabs if they were not feeling well/creeped out. It may cost me money, but I’d hate to be in their situation without help. My fiance calls me the bardian angel.

Image source: anon, cottonbro studio