The Best Of A 'Kind World': 6 Stories, 6 Random Acts Of Kindness

Back in July, WBUR launched a digital experiment called "Kind World" that explores people's experiences with random acts of kindness. Over the last several months, we've collected dozens of stories and featured many of them on our website.

Each one of these stories demonstrate the overwhelming goodness that exists in the world. Of those stories, we selected and packaged six that we thought were extraordinarily powerful. From a man buying a retail manager's entire staff a cup of coffee during the hectic holiday sales season to a woman with mitochondrial disease helping a man stuck in his New York City apartment during Superstorm Sandy, these stories detail the human experiences that may not necessarily make the news, but are just as important to share.

Here are our 6 favorite stories from WBUR's Kind World series.

When Rebecca J. was a little girl, every once in a while she would get travel with her mother into Boston to go shopping. During one such trip 38 years ago she found a book, which she begged her mother to buy. Her mother, however, refused. This is the story of how she came to own that book, which she still keeps in her home nearly four decades later.

Kristin Z. worked at the Natick Mall in Massachusetts during the Winter of 2005. Christmas was just around the corner and when you work retail during the busiest week of the year, customers can get snappy, and workers can become exhausted. But one customer turned the craziness of the season completely around.

Rick Colson is from Watertown, Massachusetts. His story takes place during one of the most trying times in Rick's life - his late wife's battle with cancer. What happened, however, was a heartwarming act of kindness from several members in Rick's community.

Crystal Evans is from Braintree. A while ago she was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease and, as a result, has lost the use of her legs. Her friend Nick who lives in Tribeca in Manhattan also has mitochondrial disease, but a case much more severe. He has to rely on a feeding tube and a ventilator to survive. So when Superstorm Sandy hit in October and New York City slowly began to lose power, Crystal immediately thought of Nick. And that's when Crystal - who had only known Nick through online forum's - sprang into action.

Angelique Tung flew from San Francisco to New York City on September 10th for a business meeting. The next morning, she entered the South Tower of the World Trade Center a little after 8AM. Then the first plane hit. She was told to evacuate, and while making her way down the stairwell to the ground floor the second plane hit. She made it to the ground safely, but come night time had no where she could sleep. Her hotel was impossible to enter due to its proximity to Ground Zero. So she went to visit a colleague’s family in Rye, New York. There, a small act of kindness occurred that, in any other situation, might’ve been overlooked. But for Angelique, it meant everything.

Back in 1996, Julie Baker decided she wanted to do two things. First, quit smoking. Second, participate in the Boston To New York AIDS ride. So, she threw out her cigarettes, began training, and a few months later hopped on her bicycle to New York. It was on the second day of the trip that Hurricane Edward struck, bringing unbearable winds and rain. Julie was within moments of giving up, but it was the kindness of one stranger that gave her the strength she needed to push on.