It's easy to think — or be pressured into thinking — that we live in a dog-eat-dog world where people will do whatever it takes to be successful. That our individualist society has become a harsh, cold, and brutal reality where everyone is out for themselves and only "the strong ones" survive. But when that seems to be the case, we’re all in great need of uplifting stories to remind us that it’s not all bad.
So today’s post is all about balancing out the scales and celebrating the heroes who leaned into their humanity and showed the kindness of their spirit. "What’s your 'gotta take one for the team' story?" asked user Betanci0 and invited hundreds of selfless Redditors who understand the value of being a part of a group to share their tales on the platform.
Below, we at Bored Panda have gathered some of the most inspiring examples of brave souls who undertook unpleasant missions and made sacrifices for the collective benefit of the team. So continue scrolling to check them all out! Be sure to upvote your favorite ones, and then share this post with friends and family who always have your back, no matter what.
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My grandmother was getting older & struggling to get to the bathroom everytime. Well one time she didn't make it & someone had to help her take a bath. I jumped at the opportunity. Got her all cleaned & pretty & smelling great, brushed her hair just before bed too.
Why ?
Because she raised me from 2-5. The learning years, the potty training, the reading/ writing, teaching me to tie my shoes, add & subtract, letters & numbers .... all her. She was patient & kind & understanding & loving & immensely wise. So me giving her a bath ..... s**t, I'd do it again tomorrow. I miss her ....
Kind of a "gotta take one for the team" but it's a pretty s****y one. I was a freshman in high school and it was homecoming. Our class pulled a s****y prank on this girl who had a learning disability and voted for her to be the freshman rep. as a joke and she won. Well the guy that got voted to walk with her backed out the day before and I was 2nd in line. Being a freshman, knowing it was a joke and knowing I'd have to walk her down with everyone watching I was mortified but I did it. I remember my step brother giving me s**t and laughing at me and then my step father found out what I was going to do... He chewed my step brother out and was immensely proud of me. I don't think she ever figured out it was a joke and she was so happy that night. It was probably the highlight of her high school years honestly. Some 25 years later my dad ran into her parents and they still thanked me to him. You just never know whose life you might touch, be kind.
My ex girlfriend and I worked at a bar in Montreal. she was a waitress and I was Bartender. One in a while a bunch of rich dudes from the states would come up and flaunt their money to the girls we worked with. Buying champagne and such.
One night she was serving them and I got cut early and was waiting until she was done and those dude insisted on giving her drinks. She was coming down with a cold and didn’t want to drink so she kept feeding me drinks intended for her.
Long story short there ended being roofies in the drink and I blacked out and I woke up on my apartment floor and my gf on the couch.
I’m glad I took that one for her..
Took a class in college that I didn’t want to take but if I didn’t, the class couldn’t be run and two other people would not be able to graduate.
I work for a small mental health charity when lockdown hit in 2020 I stopped being paid and took on all the administration as we had to make the admin furloughed. Hard times but we managed to continue supporting people for free during the hardest of times
I had a junior developer on my team that made a mistake. He had only been there a few months and although the mistake was easy to make, it would end up costing the company $40k. I was a senior dev and relatively untouchable due to a lot of fixed mistakes that others had made. For two days management was talking about who made the mistake and what they would need to do. As soon as I realized who it was (he was unaware at that point that he had done it wrong) I said I did it. Nobody said another word about it except me who quietly explained the correct way to push code changes to the junior dev.
I was out with a bunch of my friends and the designated driver f****d off and left us about 10 minutes into the party. I did not have my license but I knew the people I was with and I knew they would drive drunk, so I didn't drink and I drove them home.
Got pulled over by the RCMP, he asked for license and registration, I gave him the registration but said I didn't have a license (I had let my beginners lapse and didn't get it because I didn't have regular access to a car). He started in on me asking me why I was driving without a license and I said pointed to each person in the car and said, drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk and I didn't drink. He gave me back the registration and said carry on.
This was 35 years ago. Life was different then.
This was rural Canada, no transit, cabs would not take you from where we were to where we were going, too long a drive to make the trip back empty maybe?
The RCMP officer may have known me or recognized me. I didn't recognize him, but I was being respectful. He pulled me over for a burned out taillight originally, not for my driving skills, I had already gone 20+ miles safely.
The first year of the pandemic, I stayed on as one of the junior doctors on the COVID ward because I'm lucky enough not to have any medical conditions (and I live alone). Some of my colleagues would have had to make drastic life changes. I remember walking into the tea room and a nurse was crying because her son had severe asthma so her family were temporarily living with the neighbours. She hadn't hugged her kids in a month.
Calling this a “take one for the team” moment feels insensitive because I gained a wonderful friendship but… here goes.
I work at a big company and in a local team of about 90. One of my direct reports lost a long battle with cancer. I was close with him and gave a eulogy at his funeral. Horribly sad. He had a wife and two daughters.
He had a friend who I didn’t know beyond her name, but I knew they were tight because they always took breaks together. She happened to be off continent when he died (it was somewhat sudden) and missed his funeral. She wasn’t a particularly warm person and was a bit stand off-ish when I’d see her in communal office spaces. I have a busy life and had trouble with the idea of supporting what might become an obligatory friendship… but she seemed different after his death and so after about a month I sent her an email and said something to the effect of “I know we don’t know each other well but we both knew
**Update**
Checked in on my friend. I told her I was cleaning my garage and remembering our snowshoe adventure from a few years ago. She said “thanks for thinking of me” and that she was doing well. I found out while we were all working from home she moved to a place that is a 5 minute walk away from my place. We’re going to go for a stroll and I’ll introduce her to my 1 year old!
I taught at an elementary school in my early 20's. At the end of the year, we would always put on a dance for 5th graders as like a last hurrah before moving on to middle school.
One year, we hired a DJ and it was really great. The kids and families were having a great time. Out of nowhere the DJ announces a "Father/Daughter" dance. Most of the girls pulled their Dad's out to the floor and started dancing, but not all of them. A couple of co-workers and I noticed the girls who didn't have Dads kind of cowering in a corner of the dance floor. We walked over and started dancing with them.
This wasn't a big deal at all, and honestly was pretty forgettable, but cut to a few years later... I was attending a college graduation for a family friend. One of those girls was graduating that day as well. She comes up to me and tells me how that meant a lot to her and that it's one of her favorite memories from school.
My friend picked out terrible bridesmaid dresses. If you can picture it: Structured goldenrod cheap transparent chiffon with a body clinging tank top slip the size of a napkin underneath. Sort of that twee shabby chic prairie style that was en vogue a decade ago. My husband called me an, and I quote, "Amish s**t".
All the bridesmaids hated them but bride friend was type A and no one wanted to complain. I fell on my sword and begged her to let me pick something different because of my weight, as I was the chonkiest one in the party. I absolutely refused to stand in front of people in that handkerchief.
She wanted everyone to match so she switched to a much more flattering one. I got a group hug from all the bridesmaids in secret. It's been a decade and she still brings it up occasionally that the first dress was fine and everyone else liked it
I don't understand brides like that. I let my bridesmaid pick out their own dress. I had 6 bridesmaids, all different body types and had different styles. I only chose the color and fabric, they chose the style, and there were about 75 different styles to chose from. All of them got a dress they liked, was comfortable in, and everyone looked amazing! Nobody cares if your bridesmaids match and if you are baving them pay for the dress, i figure they should pay for one they actually like and could and would wear again and Most of them have actually worn it again at least once.
We were 15 hours in our 2-event shift. Lots of clients, set up, moving around, etc, my watch recorded 14 miles of walking. It was also snowing.
My 7 team members were barely walking straight and had knee pain, had to lie on the floor, by the end.
Anyway, both events were over and it's time for cleanup. The leader says "only one person needs to stay to sweep, so the rest can go home".
I'm in the military so I volunteered. My joints hurt but not as bad. They all hugged me on their way out and I stayed an extra 90 minutes to clean up.
Not all heroes wear capes. You sir/ma’am are an absolute legend
Was in a car ride with my GF and some family, my GF lets out a nasty fart, and my uncle starts complaining about the smell.
It was the first time my GF met these people, and I figured it would be super awkward if they figured it was her, so I took responsibility for the fart. Besides some more complaints directed at me, nothing else happened.
The fart was hella stinky so I don’t blame them for complaining at all
I was an early employee at a game studio and we had fallen on hard times. Myself and the other founders all went to 25% salary for a few months to keep from letting people go. It was VERY hard as I didn't have much slack in my budget. We made it through. Some of the best times of my life.
this is the hero of our times. So many POS managers and board members think they are entitled to fat salaries while the workers suffer or "get let go".
I was 16 and working my first job at Wendy's. One of the older guys there was Native American, had been in the Vietnam War and knew a lot of martial arts. We were friends, but horsed around a lot at work.
One day, knowing full well this dude could fight, I lurked around a corner, and when he walked by, I faked a jab at his head with a mop handle.
He had me on the ground bleeding in under a second, I didn't even see what he did! He immediately started apologizing, the manager ran back to the dish room to see what happened.
I flat out lied to the manager. Told him I slipped on the wet floor. My friend was trying to explain, and I just kept telling him to shut up every time he opened his mouth. Totally wasn't his fault, I caused it, and he had a family to support.
The manager kept trying to get him to admit what happened, but I would not let him speak. I didn't give a c**p about that job, they could fire me and it was no big deal.
We ended up going out for beers after work and laughing about it, but he had busted my nose and given me 2 black eyes so fast I never saw it coming.
When my loving and dear mother went to the hospital last month due to terminal brain cancer. Only two people could visit for her entire stay due to covid security. My father was one of the two and the last spot was between my sister and me. I let my sister have the last spot without debating or arguing. After two days of not being able to visit, they were able to convince the hospital management to make an amendment and let me in. Unfortunately I missed out on two of the last five days she had left..
my best friend conviced me have a "couple of drinks" together, next thing you know im carrying him on my back at 1 am to his house,( we were 16 at the time), police came and arested us,( it was when quarantine first started in greece, nothing really happened with the cops, they just phoned our parents and waited, both our parents came to the police station, they asked whose idea was it, i knew that if i told it was my friends idea he would be f****d, so i just told them that it was mine, i got grounded for 2 weeks and he got for 1, i actualy told my father a while ago that it was his idea and i took the blame for him, he laughed and said "my son is a loyal friend".
I was at Universal in FL with my best friend and our two boyfriends, waiting in the line for the hulk roller coaster. It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit and the air was like soup, and we had already waited in line for an hour.
I was feeling a little overheated but was ready to wait it out when I took a look at my best friend who looked white as a sheet, like she was about to faint. I finally called it and said “hey guys I’m not feeling it, Steph do you want to go grab food and shop in that store with the good HP stuff?” I could sense the immediate relief from her as we walked out of the line. Her bf is a Florida native and she was trying to put on a brave face, but I knew two more minutes and that chick would have passed the heck out.
We ate ice cream and shopped while we waited ANOTHER HOUR for the guys to get through the line to ride the 2 minute roller coaster. Totally worth it to take the “weak” title for myself to bail.
This is why I can't see the purpose of these theme parks. You pay hundreds for entry but only get to go on a few rides before your 'day' is up. 2-3 rides = a huge investment.
In 2018nafter Chiefs lost in the AFC championship game, I said I'd give my R nut for them to win the Superbowl.
In 2020 they won.
In 2020 I got testicular cancer.
Lambardi's: 1
Balls: 1
I was on a cruise, and they were doing auditions for the “end of trip” show where you’re impersonating a well known performer/song. We were over an hour into the karaoke time and no one had auditioned yet. I’d had a few drinks and figured “what’s the worst that could happen?”
That’s how I found myself performing on stage as Ricky Martin with backup dancers
A freshman with a cast and crutches was getting yelled at by the school bus driver for "being too slow" while getting to her assigned seat at the back of the bus back in highschool. She was in band so in addition to having to go down the narrow aisle with crutches she also had to carry a big instrument case. This was the 4th day in a row this had happened and I finally had enough so I helped her to her seat and called the bus driver a stuck up b***h and a few other choice words which ended in her saying if I want to stick up for said girl I can get her punishment too. I flipped her(the bus driver) off and walked home the next 2 years. Still dont regret it.
Friend of mine got on a late night fight at a bar and was sent to the closest police station, everyone left and I was left with him, rode the police car with him and called our lawyer and helped through all the legal procedures to pay bail and get him out. Still had to get to work by 8:00 a.m.
A friend of a friend that I didn't particularly know got stuck without a ride home (3 hours away) while she was visiting my city. I had to drive her all the way home and then drive back to my house(6 hours total) after working 14 hours that day. got to wake up and go to work the next morning still pretty tired, but my buddy was happy and I would hope if I got stuck in an unfamiliar city like that somebody would help me out too.
Not sure if this counts but pulling my family out of a crashed car when half unconscious myself. Don’t remember much after it, just smoke, my sister on the grass obviously screaming in pain but I could only hear a loud pitched noise in my ears then boom hospital ceiling. We all survived. :)
I took one for the team when I kept my alcoholic ex out of the dating pool for a few years. You're welcome, ladies.
In high school Spanish class we all had to write a story in Spanish outlining our summer vacation. When it was time to present to the class, no one wanted to go first. That awkward silence when the teacher asked ‘who wanted to go first’ was deafening. I decided to raise my hand and start everyone off. I was terrified (hate public speaking) and was horrible at Spanish, so going first was a huge stressor. Anyway, after that class was over my teacher pulled me aside and thanked me for going first and gave me extra credit.
Wife was suffering badly with post natal depression, my employer let me take a couple of weeks off to try and help her through the worst of it. During this time she would often go to rest in bed or go to support groups while I had the kids. One time while the kids were asleep, I had a quick scroll through TikTok and a video came up with a tough guy talking about how sometimes men struggle in silence and that sometimes when you ask if they are ok perhaps they really are not, that one broke me. I had to go and hide in the bathroom and cried for a solid 10 mins. It wasn’t that helpful but doing that in private without asking for help allowed me to keep it contained enough that I maintained the facade of being the pillar of strength holding my family up. Fast forward a few months and with the help of amazing charities and her own strength she is back in a very good place and I was able to emotionally have a sigh of relief and work through my own traumas of the subject. I did this so that she or my girls didn’t think that what was going on was negatively affecting me.
Was at a house party, being the DD. Sloshed best friend told me he thought my mom was hot and then puked all over the table with all the ladie's purses sitting on it. I saved them all from doom and then cleaned up the barf while everyone got mad at me for allowing it to happen. I remember apologizing profusely, but looking back, f**k all them, I saved the handbags.
December 2019. My boyfriend and I accompanied my cousins, I’ll call them Ryan and Jake (who are brothers) (and Jake’s fiancée who was 8 months pregnant, Maddie) to a party that Ryan’s company was hosting at a country club and told him he could bring a few guests. It wasn’t black tie but it was pretty formal.
We all went outside to get some fresh air, but Maddie starts having back pain, so Jake puts his jacket on the ground for her to sit before we headed back, keep in mind it was nighttime but there was enough lights on the property that everything was illuminated. Maddie gets increasingly uncomfortable, she tries to stand up and her water breaks. My boyfriend, nor Jake had their car keys on them either, they were left in their wallets along with their phones. I was the only one who had my phone on me, I call 911 and the call doesn’t go through, so we wait it out and I call again, I get through to someone, and I was taught to give them your address first. I tell them a woman’s water broke and before I get confirmation that they sent someone, the call got disconnected and I had no service. At this point it’s been about 20 mins and Jake was timing her contractions, they were getting increasingly painful. We all soon come to realize that help is not coming and someone has to deliver their baby. Everyone immediately looks at me because I had dropped out of school where I could get certified to be a CNA, stupid decision, I know. Now I had learned about it and done it on a mannequin but never in a real person, especially in these circumstances. So there I am, 22 years old, on my knees on the lawn of a country club, wearing a satin cocktail dress, delivering my cousin’s baby, while his brother and my boyfriend are still trying to get through to 911. 10 mins later, an ambulance arrives and takes Maddie and Jake to the hospital, my boyfriend and I had reservations on a hotel room that night but we decided to go to the hospital instead. Fast forward about 30 mins, me, my boyfriend and Ryan are sitting in the waiting room, them wearing a tux and me wearing a $600 dress that is now needs to be dry cleaned because childbirth is messy and my hands and arms covered in dried blood. Everyone ended up being ok, Ryan took an uber home, and my boyfriend and I still made good use of our hotel room. Took one for the team? Absolutely. Was I absolutely terrified? Totally. But all jokes aside, it was an eventful night that I’ll never forget. And I’m now in med school, they all convinced me it was my calling. Funny how life happens
I am sorry, but I feel that there were so many other options here than just hanging around trying to get an ambulance. I mean, they could have had a colleague drive them, a staff member? Could have gone inside and gotten in a more comfortable place. Gotten help from anyone else at the party. Also, someone who didn't finish a 6 week CNA course (or even if she did finish it) would not have any of the medical knowledge needed to deliver a baby, I'm an RN and have worked L and D and there is just some stuff that doesn't sit right about this story. I am not trying to be a hater i just see too many holes in this story and am just having a hard time buying it..
Buddy was married with two young children, who was unable to get away from his job, wife and kids. His wife is also a bit of a helicopter wife if that makes sense. My buddy and I have a bond over baseball, hadn't seen him in a long time so we went to a Blue Jays game. During the game his wife constantly texted him reminding he had to come straight home, when was the game going to be over. My buddy stated "it's a Saturday afternoon, i haven't seen you in ages or been out in a while, I want to go to a pub after for drinks but need an excuse that will give me an extra hour or two.
On Saturdays , the Jays would have Jr. Jays Saturdays, where 45 minutes after the game , if you were 12 and under, you could wait in a long line and run the bases. I told my buddy to tell his wife that I was trying to hit on a hot single mom who had a baby but also a 4 year old who wanted to the run bases and offered to take the 4 year old around the bases with the intent to get her number. Mision accomplished as we headed after the game for a couple beers. A month later I was at his house and the first thing his wife says to me, "you are such a pathetic f#%k'n sleezeball!"
Poor friend. Poor kids. That marriage is going to be miserable for all involved, for however long it lasts, unless the wife changes/they undergo counseling.
Having a sleep over at a friends house. Like 5-6 of us. We started what was a babysitting group in school and all became close friends. Regular sleep overs at one friend’s house.
We would all sleep in her parents bed since it was a king and would fit us all. Parents slept in the guest room.
We wake up and someone had wet the bed. We didn’t know who. It wasn’t me. My friend’s Mom is livid. She has all of us stand and tries to figure out who wet the bed. First she asked. No one said anything. Checked our pajamas and it was inconclusive.
So she gave us an ultimatum. If no one admits to it, no more sleep overs. After a couple seconds I say it was me.
I was punished pretty bad. Mostly for not owning up to it originally. Even though it wasn’t even me. And everytime I slept over after that I had to wear a diaper.
But we still got to have regular sleep overs which was worth it.
That is quite lame. As someone who has frequently sleepover parties for my kids, i would never shame my kids or their friends over something so easy to fix. I mean, you wash the sheets anyway after a sleepover...
A bit late to this one, but at work:
I was wrapping up on a 3pm-12am shift. Boss calls the store and practically *begs* me to do overtime and show up at 6am tomorrow because the 6-3 person called out and I'm the only one who didn't say no. Well, I needed the money and figured it'd look good vying for a promotion, but also said I'd be tired and not to expect greatness but I can hold down the fort until 10am, then I had to be out. He agreed and thanked me.
Next morning rolls around, and I thought we had an agreement that I wasn't exactly in the best condition but he totally forgot I guess. Because he was halfway up my a*s about lagging behind in everything and wasn't moving as fast as I usually do because I was running on 3 hours of sleep at most.
Told him that I thought we had an agreement that I was not going to be up to my usual standards because of how little downtime I had. He was like "I still expect you do be able to maintain the bare minimum workload". This guy has unrealistically high standards, but I'd have expected maybe he'd not be a piece of s**t for once since I did this as a favor.
After that shift was over I made it very well known that I was not to be called for that kinda s**t ever again and from that day forward just did the bare minimum to not get fired. That event taught me that in most jobs management does not give a singular f**k about you.
I was in Vegas with some friends, and we were at a rooftop club getting bottle service. One of my friends, Ed, hooks up with a girl—let’s call her Nancy. Ed and Nancy really hit it off, and they go back to his room together at the end of the night.
The next night, we’re hanging out again and having dinner, and Ed has invited Nancy to join us. She does. So does her angry lesbian friend/roommate Carol. (There’s a long backstory that I never really learned; something about how Carol was divorcing her husband, hated men, was living with Nancy for the time being, and probably had an unrequited crush on Nancy, but I never got the details.)
Nancy was obviously looking to continue the previous night’s activities with Ed, as was Ed. Carol, however, was bound and determined to prevent that from happening, so she’d invited herself along and wouldn’t leave Nancy’s side.
In order to give Ed an opening, I started talking with Carol. We got into an involved discussion about the on-going Winter Olympics and the suicidal nature of luge and skeleton. It was actually a fun conversation. But while we were talking, Ed and Nancy slipped away. When Carol noticed that they were gone, her demeanor immediately changed, she clammed up, and she left soon after.
Ed thanked me profusely the next morning.
Earlier this year, me and my band mates were at Seaworld and in the line for Mako and while we were getting in, we tried to put our stuff away in the containers that were to the left of the ride after waiting about half an hour in the line. We then discovered that only loose articles were allowed in the basket and that we would all have to get off the ride and go downstairs to get a locker then do the line again. I realized it’d be a waste of time since it was a school trip and time was limited, so I grabbed everyone’s items, stepped off of the ride and took one for the team so they could all go on the ride
Edit: First off, thanks for the upvotes, secondly, I might need more explanation. To put the stuff away I would’ve had to run down stairs, get a locker, and hope to god that all of the bags would fit but that would’ve taken forever and I didn’t want people to wait for so long just to do that, so instead I just sat down near the exit and held all the bags. Also to clarify, this wasn’t 100% an act of fear, only like 20-30% but it was mainly that it sucked to have waited so long and see some of my closest friends get so upset over a stupid policy. Also also, they are good friends, they offered to wait for me to go on again and to go in the line again later on but I said no since, we had like 2 more rides to do and around 2 hours left.
It's not so much a "Gotta take one for the team" story, but a classmate was really behind on the school work we had, and I mean it, REALLY behind, they had to stay late to finish the work, I didn't want the classmate to be alone, so I decided to stay and told the teacher I could teach them a thing or two while they're finishing their work
We graduated together, weren't really friends, but I would like to think he'll remember me in the future
There were a few really touching stories in here. And a whole lotta humble bragging
True, but most of these people did a kindness and a pat on the back doesn't hurt. Maybe with more encouragement more people would be more empathetic and more altruistic. We can always do a little more and make somebody's day, or life.
Load More Replies...My Grandfather was a disabled veteran with a heart condition. He had a heart attack after my grandmother (who was born blind) had a stroke that left her paralyzed from the chest down. They had been together since they were 12 and it seemed to just break his heart to see her suffer. She passed away a few months after and his Dr tried to force him into a nursing home. My grandfathers "final request" you might call it, was to live his last days in the home he worked for and raised his family in(my mother and her older twin brothers). If you knew my grandfather then you'd know him asking for anything is out of character, but I don't think this was too much of any one to ask. I happily volunteered since it's my grandpa and the Drs reminded us that in the best case scenario, with round the clock medical care, they gave him 6-12 monthes at the most and this was a bad idea. He passed away 11yrs later, at home in his bed. He was able to meet 6 great grandchildren and even out lived his Dr. I spent my 20's and early 30's taking care of him full-time. Not married and no kids because I had to choose between taking care of him or the normal things in life. But I got 11 more years with him and an entire new generation got to know him. In my book that's a win no matter what and I would do it again....I did in fact, with my mother. 3yrs with brain cancer.
You're an incredibly good person. I'm sure they greatly appreciated having a child/grandchild like you!
Load More Replies...In primary/elementary school a put about 10, I had friend who's family had money problems and he didn't always have lunch, anyway our school had a feed scheme where they offered meals for kids who didn't have food, they would come around to the classes during lessons let the teacher know they were outside if someone wanted something to eat, this particular day I winter it was soup, they come around let the teacher know and I remember the look on her s face when she asked and he raised his hand, such disgust and I see him hang his head in shame as he was the only one who raised their hand and look at his feet walking out the door, which was closed after him, I raised my hand immediately then and said I wanted too, the thing is I hated soup, still do, my family would make me a separate meal, when they made soup, but I went outside In The cold, stood there with him and had a cup of soup and he looked so happy that he wasn't alone, I still hate soup but it was worth it
There were a few really touching stories in here. And a whole lotta humble bragging
True, but most of these people did a kindness and a pat on the back doesn't hurt. Maybe with more encouragement more people would be more empathetic and more altruistic. We can always do a little more and make somebody's day, or life.
Load More Replies...My Grandfather was a disabled veteran with a heart condition. He had a heart attack after my grandmother (who was born blind) had a stroke that left her paralyzed from the chest down. They had been together since they were 12 and it seemed to just break his heart to see her suffer. She passed away a few months after and his Dr tried to force him into a nursing home. My grandfathers "final request" you might call it, was to live his last days in the home he worked for and raised his family in(my mother and her older twin brothers). If you knew my grandfather then you'd know him asking for anything is out of character, but I don't think this was too much of any one to ask. I happily volunteered since it's my grandpa and the Drs reminded us that in the best case scenario, with round the clock medical care, they gave him 6-12 monthes at the most and this was a bad idea. He passed away 11yrs later, at home in his bed. He was able to meet 6 great grandchildren and even out lived his Dr. I spent my 20's and early 30's taking care of him full-time. Not married and no kids because I had to choose between taking care of him or the normal things in life. But I got 11 more years with him and an entire new generation got to know him. In my book that's a win no matter what and I would do it again....I did in fact, with my mother. 3yrs with brain cancer.
You're an incredibly good person. I'm sure they greatly appreciated having a child/grandchild like you!
Load More Replies...In primary/elementary school a put about 10, I had friend who's family had money problems and he didn't always have lunch, anyway our school had a feed scheme where they offered meals for kids who didn't have food, they would come around to the classes during lessons let the teacher know they were outside if someone wanted something to eat, this particular day I winter it was soup, they come around let the teacher know and I remember the look on her s face when she asked and he raised his hand, such disgust and I see him hang his head in shame as he was the only one who raised their hand and look at his feet walking out the door, which was closed after him, I raised my hand immediately then and said I wanted too, the thing is I hated soup, still do, my family would make me a separate meal, when they made soup, but I went outside In The cold, stood there with him and had a cup of soup and he looked so happy that he wasn't alone, I still hate soup but it was worth it