15 Heartwarming Acts Of Kindness That Will Give You All The Feels

"I've paid more to be dumped than any man alive."

Updated 11 years ago, October 3, 2013

Grab a box of tissues. Users on Reddit were asked what the most extreme thing they’ve ever done for someone else was, and the answers predictably jerked all the tears. Here are 15 of the best, which will melt the ice of your cold heart. Be prepared to feel everything.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0&w=584&h=390]

1. lextheimposter

When I was eighteen, I wrote a two-hundred page novel/book of poetry for my girlfriend of almost a year at the time. It was her birthday. The novel had the two of us as the main characters. Kind of lame, I know.

But five years later, we are married and having a wonderful life. So I must have done something right.

2. Trollamp

I intentionally took a slapstick fall down some stairs to make my friend laugh after she had put her cat down.

3. beer_knurd

3 years ago, leading up to Valentine’s Day, my mom was upset that my dad was scheduled to work Valentine’s night. I’m away at college so my mom called me a couple nights before Valentine’s Day upset that she would likely be spending the night alone.

I took the day off of work for Valentine’s Day, drove a couple hours back home during the day, went grocery shopping and picked up some flowers. I drove across town to find a Total Wine to get her favorite bottle of wine(they don’t carry it at any grocery stores). Then I went home, cooked chicken parmesan and penne paste and had set the table with the meal, bouquet, and wine. When she walked in, I was hiding around the corner of the kitchen in the living room. As I walked around the corner, she was so surprised, all she could do was cry and hug me. It was the happiest I had seen her in a very long time. I love my mom.

4. naked_boar_hunter

I paid for her classes when her husband wouldn’t. Then I paid off the debt he burdened her with when he left her homeless, so she could get government assistance. I think it wasn’t proper, but it is what it is.

5. AlaskanStandard

A good high school friend of mine was shot at a bar 4 years ago. I flew to Seattle to spend a few weeks with him as he recovered. He is now a quadriplegic with limited use of his arms. I spend most of my free time with him. We built a jet boat last summer and set it up so he can drive it. Bringing the ability of adventure back to his life has been one of the only fulfilling things I have done with my life.

We spend a lot of time together figuring out new ways to adventure into the Alaskan back country. But as my savings run out and money is becoming an issue I may need to leave to work and I am worried that many of our friends won’t step in to accommodate his situation. Yet I can’t help if I can’t pay my own way, so I need to put in five years of good labor at a work camp up north so I built us a sweet accessible home. Basically adventure buddies will always find a way to adventure.

6. StrungoutScott

This isn’t anything spectacular by any means. A couple of days ago i was on the train going home. There were 2 deaf girls sitting near me, one of which kept staring at me. Her friend kept sort of peeking over at me, i just assumed they thought i was cute or something. So i looked up the sign for “Pretty” on my phone, and when i was exiting the train, i signed it to her, she got all blushed up and red, and just seemed really happy. Felt good.

7. Kimpak

I sat in a snow drift for hours (and subsequently contracted the worst flu I ever had) to talk a girl out of suicide.

8. Iwishiwasgettingpaid

Just last week I drove 900 miles to pick up a girl and 900 miles back to my house so she could see where I lived. She is afraid of flying. 13 hours straight then I pulled another 5 after I picked her up. Four days later drove her back and then had to drive home again. 3700 miles in total in 6 days. I’ve also driven to see her twice in the last 6 months and flown twice.

9. olafthebent

My Mom’s first child was a girl. She lived about two weeks due to the cord wrapped around her neck (and that it was 1958). Since she was born the day before my Mom’s birthday, that day has always been very sombre in our house. Mom has never been able to bring herself to go see the grave.

Considering I’m the third child and my folks only wanted 3, had my sister lived, I wouldn’t have been born, so when I turned 18 I was driving around and found myself at the cemetery. I looked up my sister and had a little visit. Years later my sister came up in an argument between my Mom and my Dad. I heard my Mom say, “I’ve never even seen where she’s buried,” and I could tell she had been thinking about it for a very long time.

So when I had kids I took them to visit my sister and took a couple of pictures. One came out really good with my kids cleaning up the twigs on the gravestone. I blew it up and found a nice frame.

Then I gave it to my Mom for her birthday. I handed it to her and her response was: “That’s lovely dear. Where are they? Is that where? Oh my God, it is.

And she began to choke up with the realization. The tears started and I could see the relief in her eyes from the weight she had placed on herself.

About an hour later, I caught my Dad by himself in the living room looking closely at the picture with a few small tears running down his face. He saw me and quietly said “I’ve never seen her grave either.”

That photo sits in the middle of the mantle so everyone can see it now.

10. AEDNOCH

I was a pre-med major in college but took an interning job at my Uncle’s accounting firm, a job I intended to quit my final semester of college before heading off to med school. But my Uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died very quickly. I continued working at his firm for five years to assist with the transition for the financial and emotional sake of my Aunt and two little cousins.

And I hated every minute of those five years.

11. Rainlasher

My mum is disabled and has really severe mental health problems. Since I was 16, I regularly provide respite care for her so my dad can have a weekend away just to actually live his life. He put his whole life on hold to take care of my mum and me so I try to do what I can so he can have some sort of life.

12. Space

I paid the bills for one of my friends when he was struggling with drug addiction. He lived with me and I forgave him of all the rent, covered food bills, etc. He is clean from drugs for over a year and is doing much better now. It was tough being there day in and day out as he struggled — plus there were many times I stayed up late just talking him through issues he was having. But he is an amazing friend and I know would have done the same for me if the situations were reversed.

13. dysfunctional_kid

I was camping with my best friend when we were twelve. I had a big crush on her. She wanted to use the outhouse but came back screaming when it was covered in spiders. I hated spiders too, but dammit, I was a pretty gay kid and wanted my love to use the outhouse in peace! So I spent a few hours removing every last goddamn spider from that stinking, delapidated outhouse, nearly suffocating myself on the stench.

14. tzchaiboy

For our most recent anniversary, I gave my wife a book of a year’s worth of journal entries about our lives. Last year I was disappointed in my own lack of creativity with what I gave her, so I made a split-second decision that I was going to write something for her every day throughout the year. I almost gave up a bunch of times, and was freaking out up to the last minute that she wasn’t going to like it, but she loved it. It’s been fun now going through old entries and looking at what our plans were, what we thought was going to happen, what we were excited about and worried about, and comparing it to how it all ended up turning out in reality.

15. Spodson

Flew from the west coast of the US to Paris to be with my girlfriend who was studying abroad. Through phone conversations she assured me that everything was OK and she was excited to see me. Turns out she just felt awkward about breaking up over the phone.

Of course this was the only time. I flew to Minnesota to get dumped, drove to Arizona and got dumped and got dumped at Sea World.

When I finally found my wife, my parents half joked that I should marry her before I travel anywhere with her.

I can’t complain though, I got a few great stories out of the trip and because she (and all my other girlfriends) dumped me, I found my wife. There is no limit to the distance I would go to make her happy.

TL:DR I’ve paid more to be dumped than any man alive.