being helped by a stranger essay

8 Feel-Good Stories Of Strangers Helping Someone They Didn't Know

Senior Life Editor, HuffPost

Sometimes the person you need most in a trying moment isn’t a person you know at all.

A few months ago, we asked readers to share experiences in which a complete stranger went out of their way to help. The ongoing project, called The Good Kind , seeks to highlight the unexpected kindness that people have received from someone they didn’t know. These stories range from simple acts that brightened a person’s day to grand gestures that changed a person’s life.

Below is just a selection of the hundreds of submissions we’ve received so far. Read on about the good kind of strangers in this world.

“I shared with her that I was a cancer survivor and the two of us ― complete strangers ― shared a hug and some tears.”

A few years ago, I was circling the block to find a parking space so I could get a cup of coffee. A woman walking by flagged me down and said she would go in and get me the coffee if I gave her my order. While she was inside, a spot opened up and I was waiting by my car when she exited. I thanked her when she came out and went to hand her money. She said the coffee was on her. She went on to explain that she had metastatic cancer and with the time she had left, she wanted to do as many good deeds as possible. I shared with her that I was a cancer survivor and the two of us ― complete strangers ― shared a hug and some tears. She asked me to pay it forward as often as possible, and ever since that day I make sure to do random acts of kindness for others as often as I can. ―Sara Marsi, Providence, Rhode Island

“When they headed to pay their bill, they were told that a guest had already paid and wanted to be anonymous.”

It was in a restaurant in downtown Chicago in the mid-sixties. I was sitting across from a table of ten or twelve soldiers. When they headed to pay their bill, they were told that a guest had already paid and wanted to be anonymous. The soldiers look around the restaurant searching for the benefactor and said, “Whoever you are, thank you.” They were the ones who deserved the thanks. I’ve never forgotten that moment of grace. Made me aware of the impact of acts of kindness with no need for recognition. ―Mike Grunsten, Chicago

“He drove out of the way for me, dropped me off, made sure I got into my car at the station safely and refused gas money.”

About 20 years ago, a man named John drove me home from the train station in the middle of the night. I had fallen asleep and missed my stop and landed up two towns down the line. This was before Uber and there were no taxis available. My husband was asleep so he didn’t pick up. I was all alone, shivering in the cold, and John asked me if I needed a ride. Naturally, I was hesitant but I surmised quickly that if he were a serial killer, stumbling onto me, his next victim, was an unusual stroke of luck. He drove out of the way for me, dropped me off, made sure I got into my car at the station safely and refused gas money. I will always be grateful to him and think of him every now and again. ―Peggy Buck, Wheaton, Illinois

“I had so much fun ice skating for the first time and have never forgotten that kind man.”

We were very poor growing up and couldn’t afford very many special outings. We were out somewhere when I was about 7 or so and there was a makeshift ice skating rink there. Growing up in New Zealand, we don’t get ice and snow so this was the first time I’d ever seen anything like that. I thought it was amazing. I knew there was no point in asking my parents if I could go skating as we just wouldn’t be able to afford it, so I just watched longingly from the side at people having fun. The man running the rink must of felt sorry for me or something and asked if I wanted a go. I said I couldn’t as I didn’t have any money, but he said it was OK. I had so much fun ice skating for the first time and have never forgotten that kind man or the chance to experience something new and exciting. ―Shelene Crane, Auckland, New Zealand

“I looked up to see a fellow commuter not only shoveling my car out, but offering me his snow brush to clear off my windows.”

I had recently moved to Boston from Florida. I take the commuter rail into the city, and one stormy winter’s day the train was delayed for hours. People were cold, wet, tired and grumpy. When I finally made it to my car, well after dark, I found it covered with snow and blocked by a two-and-a-half-foot wall of snow from a plow. Without a shovel and feeling frustrated and teary-eyed, I searched my car for a makeshift tool. I had to resort to using my hands to clear the snow. We New Englanders have a reputation of being “cold” and I dreaded asking someone to lend me something, further delaying their journey home. After making a couple of passes with my arms and hands to clear the snow off my car, I looked up to see a fellow commuter not only shoveling my car out, but offering me his snow brush to clear off my windows. I couldn’t thank that man enough! We made fairly quick work of digging my car out and we both went our separate ways. On my way home, I cried like a baby from happiness and the unexpected kindness bestowed upon me. ―L. Lou Dan, Boston

“I received an anonymous check for $200 to help with groceries. I don’t know her name but that woman saved us.”

I was pregnant at my job, a high-volume, low-cost vet clinic. I worked in surgery, eventually couldn’t do the physical labor, and my job’s HR department refused to help find me placement or help accommodate me. They effectively let me go, and not having protection or means (my husband stayed home to care for our special needs daughter), I applied for unemployment. They actually FOUGHT me on it and I was so fortunate to have a compassionate case worker to help with my claim. The second time around, my assessor listened to me bawling, pregnant and scared trying to figure stuff out. A week after I spoke to that woman, I received an anonymous check for $200 to help with groceries. I don’t know her name but that woman saved us. If you’re reading this, know you fed my family, helped take some bills off our plate and made a lasting impression for life. ―Teresa Banks, Chicago

“She took us to her own home and we were welcomed as precious guests by her large family. They insisted that we stay the night with them.”

After hiking to an obscure waterfall for a few hours of our weeklong backpacking vacation, we returned to our car to find that it had been broken into, belongings gone. We had our plane tickets, ID, and the keys to the car. No cash, no clothes, no wallets. We drove to the nearest town and asked if there was a police station where we could report the theft. The officer on duty was a native Hawaiian woman who was very sympathetic, took our information and then invited us to have dinner with her. At the end of her shift, she took us to her own home and we were welcomed as precious guests by her large family. They insisted that we stay the night with them. The next morning, our angel police officer took us to the office of a local lawyer who managed an emergency fund for locals fallen on hard times. He suggested we borrow some money from this fund to get us home and pay it back when we could. After filling out some paperwork, we had enough cash to survive and an invitation to have lunch with the lawyer. This experience, which could have been a disaster for us, ended up being the highlight of the trip, and I will never forget the kindness and generosity of this small community. ―Carolyn Reynolds, Maui, Hawaii

“I was the recipient of a kidney from an altruistic donor, an event that significantly changed my life.”

I was the recipient of a kidney from an altruistic donor, an event that significantly changed my life. Because of my age at 74, I had not considered that a transplant would be an option for me. Candy, my altruistic donor, and I met in pre-op on the morning of the surgery, and only then did we discover that we are both educators. She was a third grade teacher and former teacher of the year, and I was a teacher in North Carolina. My daughter, Jennifer, had not hesitated to offer one of her kidneys, but we were not a match. Jennifer was determined to “pay it forward,” and just four-and-a-half weeks after my transplant, she had her surgery. The recipient of her kidney was a 35-year-old man in Columbus, Ohio, who had been waiting for a kidney for five years. ―Sharon Dole, Augusta, Georgia

Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Want to contribute an encounter of your own? Fill out the form here to share your personal story . You can also hit us up at [email protected] to share your experience, with details on what happened, where it occurred and how it made you feel or the particular mark it left on your life. We want to hear your experiences with kind strangers ― no matter how big or small they may be.

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A Belief in Helping Strangers

The collision of the two vehicles startled me. I swerved to the side of the road to ensure that I did not become a victim. My husband jumped out of the car before it had even stopped and rushed towards one of the cars that had been involved in the accident. Instinctively, I rushed towards the other car in an attempt to try and save the victim. From inside it, I heard the voice of a woman, calling faintly for assistance, “someone help me… my back! My hips! I can’t breathe, please help me!” carefully, I pulled at the door. Immediately, it flung open. The woman was trapped between the driver’s seat and the steering wheel. She was trying to pull herself from the entrapment but her attempts were all in vain because she did not move an inch. Slowly, I tagged at the seat and unfastened the seat belt. Luckily, there were no more complications and to our great relief, she was finally free! Pulling her from the smashed car, I carefully stretched her on a blanket offered to me by my husband, from my memory of first aid that I received in senior school, I covered her hastily to prevent the incidence of shock and waited for the arrival of the ambulance. This incident was stamped in my memory and it has never faded in my mind. It could be as a result of how much I received than I got. The assistance I gave this stranger gave me peace, inner satisfaction, and calm. Above all, it gave me one of life’s greatest lessons; giving unconditionally is a virtue that should be put to use because all kind of giving without other intentions helps to elevate human suffering and makes life more bearable.

One of the benefits of being helpful to people is the fact that all manner of kindness has the tendency to spread. This means that it may just start with you helping a couple of people that you don’t even know and probably they will never get the opportunity to know you and soon, the number grows and you realize that a dozen more people have joined in to help, the number continues to increase to up to a hundred and even thousands. These people do not know each other but kindness still has a positive influence on the receivers and just like ripples of water in a lake, there will be a whole sea of people with happy faces across the country who are just gaining happiness from a mere action of help. This just serves to show that helping makes life bearable to both the sufferers and the helping parties (Lowe, par. 20; L’Armand & Pepitone 193)

Good deeds rarely go unrewarded. There are three ways in which helping can be rewarding, one of them being that the probability of one receiving help later on in the future is high when they help other people. Another reward that can be obtained from helping is the fact that the person who is helped is relieved from the personal distress they were going through before they received help and finally, the last reward that can be obtained from helping others is that people can be able to gain approval from the society and thus increasing their self-worth (Burnstein 775).

Another good thing about helping is that help emanates purely from people’s hearts. Pure altruism comes by when someone experiences empathy towards an individual who is in need. This means that pure giving comes in when one is able to put themselves into the shoes of the people who are suffering and personally feel the emotional torment that the person is undergoing. When we are empathetic with someone’s troubling situation then we are willing to go through any options to attempt for purely altruistic reasons and this is done irrespective of what rewards one is likely to acquire through the help accorded (Darley 105)

Works Cited

Burnstein, Eric, Crandall, Earnest, & Kitayama, Evans. “Some Neo-Darwinian decision rules for altruism: Weighing cues for inclusive fitness as a function of the biological importance of the decision.” Journal of Personal Social Psychology74.6 (1994) : 773-789.

Darley, Johnson & Batson, Cole. “From Jerusalem to Jericho: A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior.” Journal of Personality and Social  Psychology 27.3 (1973) : 100-108.

L’Armand, Katrina, & Pepitone, Arwin. “Helping to reward another person: A cross-cultural analysis.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31 .7(1975): 189-198.

Lowe, Richard. “Being helpful.” Online mind , 2009. Web.

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Acts Of Kindness: Why Helping Strangers Is Good For You

This content was paid for by an advertiser. It was produced by our commercial team and did not involve HuffPost editorial staff.

Kindness is not new. It wasn’t even new when the Good Samaritan stopped to help an injured man whom others had passed by. He felt compassion for a stranger in difficulty and, at some cost to himself, aided his recovery. He gained nothing other than the satisfaction felt when you know you’ve done the right thing, even though it was easier to walk on by.

In 2015, Stanford University carried out an experiment with their students and a control group in which the former carried out five weekly acts of kindness, from buying food for the less fortunate, to helping someone with their homework. Over a six-week period the students reported higher levels of happiness than the other group, suggesting that being altruistic can actually make us happier.

It may be hard to pinpoint why that is, but if you think of the feeling you get when you visit an elderly relative or help a friend in need, there’s a sense that you’ve done something that actually matters .

And that is a contrast to most of our activities. You get the “I’m glad I did that,” feeling. It might not have been the activity you really felt like doing at that time, but it gave you a lift to know you did something for someone else’s benefit.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, talks about whether we anticipate that warm feeling we get when we’re kind.

“My hunch is that people do have such intuitions. Whether the explanation is an evolutionary one (it is evolutionary-adaptive for humans to know that kind acts will make them happier and benefit them) or perhaps a social learning one (we simply recall having felt good after helping others in the past), we do seem to recognise that doing kind acts for others will make us happier – or will at least make us feel good temporarily.”

Not that kindness is purely a matter of self-interest. Yes it feels good, but it’s not like a glass of beer, where you know how you’ll feel during and afterwards. It’s hard to comprehend the reward for kindness in advance, even if at some level you’re aware there is one.

There is evidence to suggest we are hard-wired for kindness. Charles Darwin is often remembered for the “survival of the fittest” theory of evolution (he never used that phrase) but in The Descent of Man he argued that we are a caring and social species, that we are instinctively interested in each other and have a natural sympathy for each other.

If we were all the same and the survival of the fittest were to be taken literally, our societies would be homogeneous groups of people with similar attributes and characteristics. That is not human society. We are all different, even if only in small ways.

Just as we need a wide gene pool to produce healthy offspring, human communities need people to perform different roles. Human bands have needed the strong, the fast, the nurturing, the clever, the quiet, the patient, the funny, the odd and the kind to form a cohesive unit.

Again, Lyubomirsky reports on the benefits of kindness. “Recent experiment showed that doing acts of kindness for others leads to changes in immune cell gene expression associated with disease resistance,” she reveals.

Take an online social experiment by Heineken, for example. The idea that there is more uniting us than dividing us was explored in their #Openyourworld campaign, where two strangers with very opposing views (one is pictured above) met for the first time and found common ground .

It is fair to say that the people involved demonstrated a noticeable lift after sitting down with their counterpart to discuss further.

Kindness has even become a movement. The Random Acts Of Kindness Foundation , founded by kindness advocate Houston Kraft, is trying to make the world “a cooler, kinder place”. And they’re succeeding. They have over 10,000 ‘RAKtivists’ in 80 countries and are just one of many groups celebrating World Kindness Day on November 13 by paying it forward and putting someone else first.

Simple acts such as holding a door open for someone, can elicit a ‘thank you’; a human interaction that makes the day a little better. It’s been called the Virtuous Circle, whereby one good deed begets another and little by little we make the world a better place. A ripple effect occurs and little by little people become happier.

Kindness to strangers is almost as old as humanity itself. It costs nothing and we all gain. Everyone feels better for the transaction and a connection is made. We come to know we are all in this together and appreciate sometimes we need a helping hand.

Time to go make a difference to someone’s life.

Is there more that unites us than divides us? See how Heineken are striving to show we can all find common ground and enjoy the revolutionary video .

Social Life

The kindness of strangers, human advantage #3—our lives depend on how we are linked with others..

Posted November 20, 2020

For humans, the facts of life can be hard to swallow. If abandoned soon after birth, our offspring die unless found and cared for by others. If denied social contact and instruction , formal or by example, they will end up being human in form but not in talents . Whether we like it or not, we are thoroughly social animals. Yet many of us are thoroughly convinced that when it comes to being human, our personal pronouns are rightfully "me, myself, and I." As I have previously discussed , nothing could be further from the truth.

The Enlightenment fallacy

Although they may have disagreed quite audibly about the particulars, philosophers during the Enlightenment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries generally agreed on one thing: Once upon a time, our forerunners had been able to survive either as solitary forest creatures or in close-knit families just as Adam and Eve had been able to do in the Garden of Eden. Either way, they had no real need to associate with other people on Earth. They could do as they pleased, come and go as they pleased, and could care not a whit about the welfare or survival of others of their kind.

It was only later in human history — so the argument ran — that such personal freedoms had to be compromised by practical needs and realities. However, even then, the perceived self-centeredness of being human was taken for granted. Although the most celebrated philosophers writing about human nature before the American Revolution may now be Thomas Hobbes , John Locke , and Jean-Jacques Rousseau , the lesser-known savant Samuel von Pufendorf was eloquent (and long-winded) in describing what he saw as basic human nature. Like the others just mentioned, he assumed that regardless of how kindly or beastly we all are inherently down deep inside, human social life is fashioned to a large degree, and reasonably so, on rational and entirely justifiable self-interest.

The friendship hypothesis

Much of the logical foundations of modern social conservationism and philosophical libertarianism is in keeping with such Enlightenment ideas. As the philosophers Eric Mack and Gerald Gaus at Tulane University have summed up the libertarian view of society: “Each individual’s life, well-being or preference satisfaction is thought of as having supreme importance in and of itself, not merely in so far as it contributes to social life, well-being, or preference satisfaction.”

However, as I have discussed at length elsewhere , our evolved ability as human beings to make friends even with strangers is a defining characteristic of our species, an evolved human trait marking us apart from most other species on earth just as surely as the other diagnostic traits often singled out as being characteristic of our kind: walking upright on two legs, having opposable thumbs and a prominent chin, and possessing the powers of both speech and complex abstract reasoning.

Our friendships by their very nature link us with one another in ways that lead to astonishingly far-reaching social networks capable of transmitting vitally useful information, mobilizing people to action, and in other ways, too, buffering us, our families, and our communities against the trials and tribulations of life. Even the most sedentary human communities have always had ways to safely initiate, cultivate, and maintain social ties beyond their immediate horizons and the familiar constraints of their daily lives.

People have also always found seemingly practical reasons, as well as socially sanctioned excuses, for engaging in more distant social relationships beyond the confines of their hamlet or village community — not only to find suitable marriage partners, but to cultivate new allies, comrades, and procurers of goods & services, and for all the other countless reasons we need others in our lives.

The reality of our social networks

Thanks to cell phones, computers, and online social media services, the words network and networking are familiar to many today. So, too, at least in the academic world, is the phrase social network analysis (SNA).

The basic premise of the scholarly study of networks is that while we can think about things and people as if they exist all on their own and apart from everything else on Earth and, indeed, in the universe, in reality, things and people exist as such because they are connected and interdependent .

I will have more to say about social networks and the science of network analysis in later posts. Here, I want to end this commentary with this closing thought. Modern research in many of the sciences that are seemingly about quite different things — for instance, in sociology, psychology, neuroscience , and anthropology — is showing us that our world does not revolve around ourselves as individuals, contrary to Enlightenment thinking and more recent claims that we are inherently self-centered, even quite selfish, creatures. Instead, what we are like as individuals critically depends on how we are linked socially and emotionally with others in relational networks reaching far and wide.

This is why I like to say our ability as individuals to initiate, cultivate, and nurture social ties with others of our kind is the third of the great advantages of being human.

As I like to say to my students while pointing toward a blank wall: Can't you see what is written up there for all to see?

Next up — Should You Worry About How Delusional You Are?

Mack, Eric and Gerald F. Gaus (2004). Classical liberalism and libertarianism: The liberty tradition, pages 115–130. In Handbook of Political Theory , Gerald F. Gaus and Chandran Kukathas, eds. London: Sage Publications, page 116.

John Edward Terrell, Ph.D. , is the Regenstein Curator of Pacific Anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago.

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My Unsung Hero

He was stranded. a stranger offered help and a message: 'today you, tomorrow me'.

Laura Kwerel

Justin Horner's story has resonated with many. Justin Horner hide caption

Justin Horner's story has resonated with many.

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.

In 2010, Justin Horner was driving down a busy freeway in Portland, Ore., when his tire blew out. He pulled over to the side of the road and made a sign that said he needed help.

Three hours later, a van finally pulled up. Out came a family of four. They were Latino, and their young daughter acted as translator between her parents' Spanish and Horner's English, so that they could work together to fix Horner's car.

They took about an hour, starting with the father finding a log on the side of the road, and using it to lift the car. When they finished, the mom pulled out a big jug of water, and they drank and washed their hands.

"I just thanked them and thanked them and thanked them," Horner recalled. "And I tried to give her money. I only had a $20 bill, and I just thought, you know, it's the least I could do. And she just wouldn't take it."

But Horner was adamant, and eventually he put the money in her hand, and walked away.

Then he heard their small daughter call out, to ask Horner if he was hungry. Indeed he was, and she came over with a tamale from their cooler. They exchanged thank yous, she got into the van, and the family started to drive away.

He forgot his shirt for a job interview. A hotel employee had a novel solution

"As they're trying to get into traffic, I unwrapped the tamale and my money is in the tamale," Horner said. "They had unwrapped the tamale and they'd put the 20 in and then they'd wrapped it back up."

Horner immediately ran over to the van, which was starting to pull into traffic, to get the father's attention.

"He rolls down his window. He sees me coming and he's just shaking his head. And I keep saying like, 'Por favor, por favor' — I'm holding a bill out," Horner remembered.

"And he just kind of puts his hand up and he just, you know, with this big smile on his face, he just says, 'Today you, tomorrow me.'"

The man then gave Horner a wave, rolled up the window, and drove off. The last thing Horner saw was the young girl waving goodbye through the window. He never saw them again.

'Real MVP': A professor gives a shout out to the student who nods along in class

A few months later, Horner wrote up his story for Reddit , which drew thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. It turned into an essay in The New York Times , led to references on late night talk shows, and inspired a handful of short films.

Horner knows that the phrase, "today you, tomorrow me," wasn't invented by that stranger in the van — he says it's a common expression in Mexico, where he believes the family was from. But its sentiment is universal. And on many corners of the internet, it's become a kind of shorthand for empathy.

"It's weird. It just seemed like some chicken-soup-for-the soul kind of thing, right? Like 'Today you, tomorrow me,' like, 'It could have been you, it could have been me,'" Horner said.

"But when you start taking it apart, it's kind of big. I think at the end of the day, it just shows you that everyone can be vulnerable in a given situation, and that everyone needs help."

Listen to All Things Considered each day here or on your local member station for more stories like this.

My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to [email protected].

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

Writers share their experiences of kindness while travelling.

By The Boar Travel

Credit: Pexels.

Image: Unsplash.

Zofia Swiatek

It is quite peculiar that when a stranger is kind to us while travelling, it’s immediately obvious to both parties that the favour cannot be returned — soon, we will be again physically distant, and lost to each other forever. We pass each other for only a moment in our lives, a chance encounter with no past and likely no future.

I think that the unique circumstances make even the smallest act of kindness so touching and memorable. I still remember how three years ago I was traveling through Georgia with my family and we left the car to visit a viewpoint outlooking a mountain pass. Several other people were there, taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, and I saw that one woman was posing with a large bouquet of beautiful purple wild flowers. I truly liked them, and went up to her to say how lovely they were.

It was all she needed to hear — immediately, she offered to give me the flowers, so that I could take a picture with them myself. Her gesture was extremely kind, and I smiled happily as my mom took our her camera. Yet this stranger’s kindness did not end there: the woman insisted that I keep the flowers with me, and refused to take them back. She saw that they brought me joy, and wanted to contribute to my happiness. People usually receive flowers from loved ones, and it’s so amazingly precious to receive them from a stranger!

The flowers withered away by the end of the day, but the memory will stay with me forever. This simple, ephemeral gift became a powerful reminder of the goodness people can show towards others.

I passed a lot of people on that trip years ago, but the fact that I still remember this woman and the flowers shows that a simple gesture can truly go a long way. Back then, the flowers made my day, and every time I think back to it, the world seems a bit more bright.

Rosie Williams

This week I was reminded of someone who played a very minor role in my year abroad in Germany, yet whose regular kindness and positive attitude never failed to put a smile on my face.

I took the train to work every day and I soon realised there was a ticket inspector, who also worked on this route regularly. He was the most friendly man, with dark curly hair and a thin moustache- which also curled outwards in a spiral at the sides just like in a cartoon. In fact, he did look rather Super Mario-esque, but that’s beside the point.

Every time he entered the carriage to check the tickets, he would announce his arrival with a jovial greeting. On one occasion, I overheard him talking to some people in front of me. He’d sat down beside them as he often did, telling them that he used to be an artist before realising that the real art in life was interacting with other people, which is why he became a train conductor.

You really couldn’t make this stuff up! He certainly used this opportunity, which the profession apparently afforded him, to its full extent! I liked to eavesdrop into the friendly conversations like this, which he had with passengers, (it was hard not to overhear because he was so animated), but one day it was my turn.

Getting out my ticket for him to check, he spotted the British driving license in my card wallet, which prompted him to sit next to me and tell me about the time when his sports team, (to my memory it was something like trampolining), went to competitions in the UK and then Japan. Listening to what he had to say always felt slightly surreal, as this man seemed to have such a rich life behind him. I embraced the opportunity, listening eagerly and feeling privileged to share in his storytelling.

Even though my journey was only eight minutes, his friendliness and mad adventures combined had the ability to put my little worries into perspective and send me off feeling inspired.

Lauren Nicholson

Last year I visited Paris with a few friends and we spent a day looking at art galleries. The last one on our list was ‘Musee De L’Orangerie', a dreaded 40 minute trek from the previous one. We weren’t too familiar with the public transport so we were travelling between everything on foot.

We ended up arriving about five minutes before the museum closed and the guard told us they actually stopped letting in people fifteen minutes before anyway. I was pretty gutted – the gallery features a beautiful set of waterlily paintings by Monet and the room is circular so the painting bends around. Sort of like a panorama view.

The security guard caught on to our mood and asked us “Brexit or no Brexit?” My friend replied “no Brexit” and the guard grinned and told us we could go in for the last few minutes.

They let us straight through the security checks and passport checks (if you’re an EU resident you get in free, otherwise you have to pay). I did feel like a bit of a celebrity.

Although we didn’t get to spend long inside, it was definitely worth it and certainly my favourite of all the museums. Pictures of the Monet paintings really don’t do it justice: there’s just something really beautiful about being surrounded by the paintings in real life. It’s really immersive.

You can also get quite close to them too and the vast size means you can see so many details of his work – every brush stroke. I definitely recommend visiting, but maybe before its closing time at 6pm, because I doubt the guard is always that nice!

Hannah Drew

My fondest memory of a kind stranger comes from my year abroad. I was travelling back to the UK for the Christmas holidays, a journey which involved travelling a couple of hours from my small town to Paris, where I would catch the Eurostar to London.

The day had already been made extremely difficult, due to the transport strikes and my trains to Paris being cancelled, followed by a Flixbus that turned up over an hour late. In Paris, I needed to catch RER B to Gare du Nord, a service which was significantly reduced due to the strikes.

The station was completely rammed with people and I knew that if I missed the next metro, I would miss my Eurostar due to my late Flixbus earlier in the day. Enter my kind stranger. Seeing that I was visibly upset after my stressful morning and the panic of the crowd, he helped me onto the train with my huge suitcase as we were pushed and shoved by other passengers. He then proceeded to form a human barricade around me, so nobody was shoving into me and I was able to calm myself down.

As I arrived at Gare du Nord, he yet again helped me lug my suitcase off and pointed me in the direction of my Eurostar train. Although he did not know of my difficult day and desire to get back to the UK, for the first time in three months, a stranger took the time to help someone who was visibly struggling and get me on my way.

It’s a shame he wasn’t there to help me when my phone was stolen about ten minutes later in Gare du Nord. Thanks, Paris.

Reece Goodall

Way back in my first year, I decided to take part in one of the many ‘travel abroad’ opportunities you’re bombarded with.

The idea of the journey was to hitchhike from London to Morocco. In all honesty, I had little faith that the trip would be a success– although hitchhiking seems an adventure in films, I simply didn’t believe that it would in real life. The charity trip involved groups of three, and who would have the space and the patience for three random kids they’d found on the road?

It transpired that Europe was full of wonderful people, and they went above and beyond giving us lifts. One French lady found us wandering and, when she learned we’d scarcely eaten for two days, she took us back to her house and invited us to share a stuffed chicken meal with her family.

When it poured with rain and we attempted to rest under some trees, a lady took us to a nearby hostel and paid for our board. Sitting in a train station, again because of weather, one of our party was sad and struggling with homesickness – an old French man saw her crying, asked what music she liked and then started playing it on the station piano.

In the most exciting moment of the trip, the American member of our party left her passport in a service station toilet. A Spanish man picked up there and, when she realised, he took her back several miles to look. It wasn’t there, so he called the local police and then he took us to the US embassy in Spain. It was out of his way by a magnitude of several hours, but he said that he couldn’t abandon someone in need.

I wasn’t expecting the trip to be a success and, for me, it wasn’t – I bailed out before Morocco. But the journey was wonderful, in no small part because of the kindness of the people we encountered on the way.

Have you benefitted from the kindness of strangers?

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clock This article was published more than  4 years ago

Would you help a stranger? UCLA to study why people are kind or not.

On Father’s Day 2017, a woman paying for her meal at a McDonald’s drive-up window in Scottsburg, Ind., told the cashier that she’d also like to buy the meals of the man with four children in the van behind her. “Tell him ‘Happy Father’s Day,’ ” she told the salesclerk .

Her small act of kindness was soon regenerated 167 times, with each customer offering to pay for the subsequent person's order. The story made national headlines, but Daniel Fessler wasn't surprised.

The University of California anthropology professor has spent the past several years studying the positive effects of kindness, and he is now the inaugural director of an academy devoted to the subject.

“The very fact that we can live cheek and jowl next to each other is remarkable in itself,” he said. “With the world more connected than ever before, kindness has never been more important."

This church gave its parishioners $60,000 and told them to pay it forward. Here’s what happened.

The Bedari Kindness Institute opened last month in a UCLA social sciences building with a $20 million gift from the Bedari Foundation to fund research on what provokes kindness and how that can empower everyday people. It will also offer classes and workshops on the topic.

Research has already been done at UCLA about how kindness can reduce heart disease, depression and a person’s risk for developing cancer, said Darnell Hunt, dean of the university’s social sciences division and administrator of the new program. Researchers have begun to study the effects of kindness on depressed students.

Another project underway is studying why some people choose to risk their lives to save others during genocide while their friends and neighbors do not.

“What are the mechanisms that determine whether somebody is going to be kind or not?” Hunt asked. “Who are these people, and what motivated them to take action?”

He added that “kindness is at the core of humans’ ability to cooperate with one another.”

How a town came together to rescue a missing 6-year-old — and used a thermal camera on a drone to find him

The institute is being funded by Manhattan philanthropists Matthew C. Harris and his wife, Jennifer, who named the research facility Bedari after the first syllables of the names of their children: Beckett, Dakota and Riley.

Matthew Harris said he was inspired to help start the institute after awakening one morning in his New York City home and realizing that negative thoughts he was having about himself were beginning to affect his relationships with family and friends, he said.

“Whether it’s being judgmental, holding yourself to a higher standard or insisting on perfection — all the ways I lived my life — it became my experience that if you’re not kind and compassionate to yourself, it’s hard to do the same for others,” said Harris. “I simply didn’t want to live my life like that anymore,” he said.

Harris, who is a founder of Manhattan’s Global Infrastructure Partners, an equity firm that focuses on areas such as energy and waste, conferred with his wife and several educators at UCLA (his 1984 alma mater) and came up with a plan for the kindness academy.

Fessler, the academy’s director, is one of several professors working with the institute. He recently finished a study on whether kindness can evoke an emotional response that becomes contagious. Answer: yes.

The anthropology professor and his research volunteers randomly selected about 8,000 people in Los Angeles to earn $5 by watching a light video of a person doing backflips or an emotional video of a young man performing kind acts for strangers.

At the end of each viewing (the video each person watched was decided by a coin toss), people were given the option of donating their $5 or any other amount they desired to a local children's hospital, said Fessler.

“They put whatever they wanted in a padded envelope while the researcher turned her back, and then the envelope was given to another researcher who recorded it and forwarded it to the hospital,” he said.

Participants who were shown the video featuring kind acts were more generous with their donations, Fessler observed.

This Miami bus driver performed CPR on a passenger. It was the third time she helped save someone.

“So when people are exposed to an emotional experience of kindness, they're more likely to respond in kind,” he said. “Can we predict who will have this or not? Yes, we can. But it depends on what kind of expectations they have about other people.”

A cynical person who watches the kindness video and thinks the do-gooder is either a sucker or is out to exploit people, isn't as likely to pay it forward than a person who comes away thinking that their community is full of good people, said Fessler.

“When people get this emotional boost, they become more pro-social,” he said. “The people we studied used words like ‘uplifted,’ ‘moved’ and ‘tears in my eyes’ to describe how they felt internally. One person told me, ‘I feel like hugging a puppy.’ ”

Fessler likes to compare his experiment to the real-life story of those 167 people who paid for each other's meals at McDonald's.

“Each individual's act spurred somebody else to engage in pro-social behavior,” he said. “If people are interacting with each other again and again, then theoretically, that can lift the community to the point where people are more cooperative with one another.”

At a time when people trade political barbs with strangers online and some choose to spend hours each day in isolation with their phones, kindness has never been more needed, he said. Fessler said he spent years working in Indonesia and learned a saying: “There is no ivory which is not cracked.”

“It’s a metaphor for ‘we are all imperfect,’ " he said. “For any of us to say, ‘My way is the right way and I have the only right values’ is to fail to recognize that all of us can be kinder and more tolerant. We’re all in the same lifeboat together.”

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“The Kindness of Strangers” by Ruben Martinez Essay

Martinez is a Mexican-American who writes about the current national debate into immigration using the las posadas of Mexican tradition as a metaphor for those North Americans who “turn away” from their sense of humanity. As President Bush advocated the “guest worker” legislation over the Christmas period Martinez cleverly chose a parable that has deep meanings for both North Americans and Mexicans – the narrative of Mary and Joseph seeking refuge and being turned away on the night of Christ’s birth. The choice of parable is apt given the season and that both nations embrace Christianity as part of its social philosophy. A core principle of Christianity is compassion and being there for others.

Similarly to the experiences of Mary and Joseph so long ago, illegal immigrants in the USA are stereotyped as potential “thieves” and socially excluded from the mainstream community. Like many immigrants from Mexico, Mary and Joseph’s story has many present day parallels; not being welcomed by the wider community because of their poverty status (immigrants tend to live in rural areas or on the fringe of townships; Mary and Joseph were not able to find lodging in the town of Bethlehem); sub-standard housing (many immigrants are transient farmers living in make-shift shelters, vans or decrepit housing; Mary and Joseph were relocated to a stable); and poor sanitation and over-crowding (the norm for immigrants is to have extended family groups living together and western houses are not built for families beyond the norm of four to five; Mary and Joseph shared their accommodation with a myriad of barnyard animals).

Martinez also points to the irony of North Americans, most immigrants themselves (i.e., at least those not of Native American heritage) have such hostility toward immigrants. It is self-evident from historical records that North Americans have had a “contradictory relationship” with immigrants which have been ongoing since the colonial days. The USA may promote itself to be the “land of immigrants” with the Statue of Liberty as a shining reminder of what the rhetoric of residency means.

However, citizens continue, in general, to view social others from other nations seeking to immigrate as “them”. There is a dichotomy of social thought that promotes “liberty” (freedom, human rights, community relationships, family safety and personal achievement) on the one hand, and ethnic stereotyping, marginalization, social exclusion, social exploitation in the form of sweatshops and menial work, and media portrayals that are simplistic and aggressive. In the words of Martinez, “We are immigrants who despise immigrants”. It appears to Martinez that the concept of “erasing borders” (opening a door to a stranger) is one that most North Americans want to distance themselves from; which is demonstrated in an attitude that is inhospitable toward illegal immigrants.

Martinez use of the parable urges North Americans opposing equal opportunities and resources for illegal immigrants to consider their moral stance on “hospitality” and their conceptualization of reciprocity. Instead of interpreting the influx of immigrants as being “”thieves” intent on taking from us and giving nothing in return” (p. 1) to find one’s sense of humanity and aid those on their journey toward “a better life” (p. 2).

Ultimately, Martinez questions the logic of decisions such as that of voters in Arizona in November of 2007 who chose to deny public benefits to illegal immigrants when they passed Proposition 200. Basically, Martinez suggests that the North American public drop their paranoiac stance toward immigrants and see their presence as part of a “journey” which involves all people encountered through travels. The hand that is helped today may be the hand that is held out to one in time of need tomorrow.

I think Martinez is quite clever to identify the socio-cultural link to North American psyche by highlighting the analogy of Mary and Joseph’s experiences that night in Bethlehem with the current political debate on immigration which was occurring over the Christmas period. That’s serendipity. He delivers deep insight into the meaning of what it is to be human . Moreover, Martinez asks each North American to consider their moral duty in providing welfare and protection (hospitality) to those in need. The use of parables has been used since times of early civilizations to provide humans with guidelines as to how to live their lives.

We are social beings and as such reciprocity is essential to our existence. Humans survive because we help one another. Survival of the fittest is about social group strength, not individualistic goals grounded in competition. Instead, those of us in positions of power and advantage could look to the true purpose behind illegal immigrant migration into the USA; by what criteria do immigrants define “a better life”?

Personally, I find it highly unlikely that families living in poverty would, en masse, consider immigration from their home to another nation simply to steal and take what they can. Mexican illegal immigrants tend to be farmers and travel along the East Coast and Central territories. Farmers tend to be hard workers, particularly when there is a large family that must be fed and housed and kept in hiding from immigration officials.

People who are living a substance lifestyle are unlikely to take risks that expose them to the authorities and jeopardize the family’s ability to look after one another. More research into the perceptions and attitudes of immigrants would educate the general public as to immigrants’ dreams, aspirations, expectations and concepts of what they have to give and why they wish to make the USA their home. Instead, it appears that North America finds it easier to adopt a “blame the victim” mentality. Using immigrants as the scapegoat for poor employment rates and declining social values constrains the ability for those in power to harness new perspectives on meaning making, and subsequent onward movement of society as a whole.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, August 30). "The Kindness of Strangers" by Ruben Martinez. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-kindness-of-strangers-by-ruben-martinez/

""The Kindness of Strangers" by Ruben Martinez." IvyPanda , 30 Aug. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-kindness-of-strangers-by-ruben-martinez/.

IvyPanda . (2021) '"The Kindness of Strangers" by Ruben Martinez'. 30 August.

IvyPanda . 2021. ""The Kindness of Strangers" by Ruben Martinez." August 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-kindness-of-strangers-by-ruben-martinez/.

1. IvyPanda . ""The Kindness of Strangers" by Ruben Martinez." August 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-kindness-of-strangers-by-ruben-martinez/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""The Kindness of Strangers" by Ruben Martinez." August 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-kindness-of-strangers-by-ruben-martinez/.

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Published on February 23, 2022 by English Proficiency Editorial Team

IELTS Cue Card Sample Question  – Describe a Time When You Helped a Stranger 

If you ask those who have done the IELTS exam what the most challenging part of the test was, odds are they will say the cue card component, also known as the IELTS Speaking Part 2 . 

If you are wondering why, it is because in this section of the test, you will be assigned a topic with which you may not be acquainted, and you will have no option but to address it.

To make matters more challenging, you have less time to prepare and must talk for a longer period without interruptions or questions from the examiner. But do not panic. 

This article contains sample replies to the cue card topic ‘Describe a time when you helped a stranger.’ Continue reading to find out more.

What is the IELTS Cue Card Question?

How to answer this specific question: “describe a time when you helped a stranger” , sample response 1:, sample response 2: , vocabulary list for answering this question: “describe a time when you helped a stranger”.

The examiner will present you with a cue card with a topic printed on it in Task 2 of the IELTS Speaking Test . This card is referred to as a cue card . It will also give 3-5 bullet points that outline what you should discuss in your talk.

You have one minute to plan, during which you may jot down with the pen and paper provided to you.

You will be given 1-2 minutes to speak on the topic.

Then, the examiner will ask you one or two questions about your subject. This portion lasts about 3-4 minutes in total.

Topic/Question

Describe a Time When You Helped a Stranger

Guidelines to answer this question

You should say:

• When it was
• Where it was 
• Why that person needed help

And explain what and how you felt after helping them.  

• Recall a time when you helped a stranger. If you have no experience of helping a stranger, you can make up a story. The examiner will not know. 
• Once you have a subject to discuss, stick to it. There is no time to change your mind as you only have 60 seconds to plan. 
• Begin writing notes. State when and where it was and discuss why that person needed help. Do not forget to explain why you felt after helping them. 
• Manage your time well. You can do this by writing only keywords and sentences instead of sentences. 
• Employ sophisticated vocabulary. Make use of complex grammar structures as well. These two account for 50 percent of your marks in this part of the test. 
• Take quick notes, but make sure you understand what you have written later on. It is acceptable if the examiner does not recognize what you have written. Your grade is determined by the substance and delivery of your speech, not by your handwriting.
• You may wish to glance at your notes from time to time. It is permitted. The examiner will not prevent you from doing so. After all, it is why you are given a pen and a piece of paper.

Sample Responses: “Describe a Time When You Helped a Stranger”

“The specific occurrence I’d want to discuss happened during my undergraduate years when I assisted a poor family in our hometown. I can’t exactly recall the name of the person, but I know that he was a technician with a family of five. He had a tiny shop that repairs electronic devices. His modest shop was destroyed by a catastrophic typhoon, and he had no alternative source of income or the ability to repair it. 

I noticed him trying to calm his tiny children who were begging for food one day. This occurred near our college campus when I had gone to meet a classmate. I was so moved by the lovely but sad-looking children that I approached this person. He narrated what had transpired in a shaky voice. I bought them some fruits and snacks then asked them to hang around for a while. I went to my lecture and shared what happened to my three closest friends. Finally, we went to our class instructor and prepared an application about the person’s and his family’s plight. 

We were able to raise a large amount of money, which was beyond my expectations. We purchased food and clothing for this family with this money, and they were so appreciative that the husband and wife began crying and praying for us.  In terms of my emotions, I felt both satisfied and humbled. This is one of those times I realized how fascinating and fulfilling it is to assist someone. I felt blessed, and the man and his wife treated me as if I were a beloved friend.” 

Follow-up Question 1:

Do you like to help others?

“Yes, I enjoy helping others. I am overjoyed when I am able to assist someone. Whenever someone comes to me for assistance, I do my utmost to help him/her in any way I can.”

Follow-up Question 2: 

How do members of your community assist one another?

“I’m really fortunate to have very helpful people in our community. We try to help each other in any way we can. May it be donating money, helping out during events, or giving food, the people in our community never cease to help each other in times of need.”

“Man is a social being. We all have to provide and accept support from others on a regular basis. I’m going to tell you about a time when I assisted an accident victim. It happened when I was in Vinh last month for a wedding. We noticed a lady lying on her side with a lot of blood pouring from her head. The accident had occurred only 2 minutes before we saw them. 

She was with her husband, and they were on a scooter when they were hit by a fast automobile as they exited the gas station. We quickly pulled over to the side of the road and approached to see if we could assist.

Her spouse had minor injuries, but she was in critical condition. We quickly dialed the number of the government’s free ambulance service. The ambulance arrived in fifteen minutes. 

We did not move the lady since doing so could have aggravated her injury. She was breathing normally, but she was in a lot of agonies. In the ambulance, there was a first-aid crew led by a doctor. The ambulance crew carefully placed her on a stretcher and brought her to the nearest hospital. We obtained the phone numbers of the patient’s other relatives from her husband and called them. Actually, he was taken aback by his wife’s condition. We didn’t leave until they were settled. We were an hour late for the wedding, but we were glad we could aid those folks in need.”

Follow-up Question 1: 

Do you believe people nowadays are less willing to help others than in the past?

“Yes, I believe so. Today’s world moves at a fast pace. People have turned into workaholics. They have become self-absorbed. They seem not to have time to help others.”

Follow-up Question 2:

Do people trust each other as much as they used to?

“No, I don’t believe so. My grandparents and parents used to tell me that life used to be simpler and slower. People had faith in one another. Nowadays, it is quite difficult to find someone with whom you can put your trust. I think that people are changing just as the world is.”  

Below are some terms from the sample responses for the cue card topic ‘ Describe a time when you helped a stranger .’ with their definitions and example sentences for your reference. 

Additional Reading — IELTS Speaking Cue Card Questions

• Describe a Person You Admire
• Describe Your Best Friend
• Describe Someone Famous that You Want to Meet
• Describe a Person Who You Think is a Good Leader
• Describe a Neighbor You Like
• Describe a Place You Want to Travel Next
• Describe a Historical Place that You Have Been to
• Describe a Place You and Your Friend Went to Recently
• Describe a Place Where You Spend Most of Your Free Time
• Describe a Country that You Want to Visit
• Describe a Gift that You Have Received Recently
• Describe an Item of Clothing that You Bought for Someone
• Describe a Piece of Art that You Want to Buy
• Describe Something that You Recently Lost
• Describe a Vehicle that You Want to Buy
• Describe an Activity that You Find Enjoyable
• Describe a Place Where You Love to Shop
• Describe an Event that You Recently Attended
• Describe One of the Busiest Days of Your Life
• Describe a Hobby that You Do with Your Family
• Describe a Difficult Decision that You Made
• Describe a Time When You Felt Lucky
• Describe the First Time You Had a Mobile Phone
• Describe a Time When You Tried to Do Something but Weren’t Successful
• Describe Your Favorite Teacher
• Describe Your Favorite Photograph
• Describe Your Favorite Subject in School
• Describe Your Favorite Song
• Describe Your Favorite Actor
• Describe a Situation that Made You Upset
• Describe a Time When You Had an Argument with Someone
• Describe One of the Happiest Travels You Ever Had
• Describe an Incident When You Got Scared
• Describe a Time When You Felt Relieved
• Describe a Workaholic Person You Know
• Describe an Interesting Course You Took
• Describe a Time When Someone at Work Gave You a Compliment
• Describe a Quiet Place at School Where You Like Spending Your Free Time
• Describe a Time When Something Unfortunate Happened at Work

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Schneier on Security

Home Essays

The Kindness of Strangers

• Bruce Schneier
• The Wall Street Journal
• March 12, 2009

When I was growing up, children were commonly taught: “don’t talk to strangers.” Strangers might be bad, we were told, so it’s prudent to steer clear of them.

And yet most people are honest, kind, and generous, especially when someone asks them for help. If a small child is in trouble, the smartest thing he can do is find a nice-looking stranger and talk to him.

These two pieces of advice may seem to contradict each other, but they don’t. The difference is that in the second instance, the child is choosing which stranger to talk to. Given that the overwhelming majority of people will help, the child is likely to get help if he chooses a random stranger. But if a stranger comes up to a child and talks to him or her, it’s not a random choice. It’s more likely, although still unlikely, that the stranger is up to no good.

As a species, we tend help each other, and a surprising amount of our security and safety comes from the kindness of strangers. During disasters: floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, bridge collapses. In times of personal tragedy. And even in normal times.

If you’re sitting in a cafe working on your laptop and need to get up for a minute, ask the person sitting next to you to watch your stuff. He’s very unlikely to steal anything. Or, if you’re nervous about that, ask the three people sitting around you. Those three people don’t know each other, and will not only watch your stuff, but they’ll also watch each other to make sure no one steals anything.

Again, this works because you’re selecting the people. If three people walk up to you in the café and offer to watch your computer while you go to the bathroom, don’t take them up on that offer. Your odds of getting three honest people are much lower.

Some computer systems rely on the kindness of strangers, too. The Internet works because nodes benevolently forward packets to each other without any recompense from either the sender or receiver of those packets. Wikipedia works because strangers are willing to write for, and edit, an encyclopedia – with no recompense.

Collaborative spam filtering is another example. Basically, once someone notices a particular e-mail is spam, he marks it, and everyone else in the network is alerted that it’s spam. Marking the e-mail is a completely altruistic task; the person doing it gets no benefit from the action. But he receives benefit from everyone else doing it for other e-mails.

Tor is a system for anonymous Web browsing. The details are complicated, but basically, a network of Tor servers passes Web traffic among each other in such a way as to anonymize where it came from. Think of it as a giant shell game. As a Web surfer, I put my Web query inside a shell and send it to a random Tor server. That server knows who I am but not what I am doing. It passes that shell to another Tor server, which passes it to a third. That third server—which knows what I am doing but not who I am—processes the Web query. When the Web page comes back to that third server, the process reverses itself and I get my Web page. Assuming enough Web surfers are sending enough shells through the system, even someone eavesdropping on the entire network can’t figure out what I’m doing.

It’s a very clever system, and it protects a lot of people , including journalists, human rights activists, whistleblowers, and ordinary people living in repressive regimes around the world. But it only works because of the kindness of strangers. No one gets any benefit from being a Tor server; it uses up bandwidth to forward other people’s packets around. It’s more efficient to be a Tor client and use the forwarding capabilities of others. But if there are no Tor servers, then there’s no Tor. Tor works because people are willing to set themselves up as servers, at no benefit to them.

Alibi clubs work along similar lines. You can find them on the Internet, and they’re loose collections of people willing to help each other out with alibis. Sign up, and you’re in. You can ask someone to pretend to be your doctor and call your boss. Or someone to pretend to be your boss and call your spouse. Or maybe someone to pretend to be your spouse and call your boss. Whatever you want, just ask and some anonymous stranger will come to your rescue. And because your accomplice is an anonymous stranger, it’s safer than asking a friend to participate in your ruse.

There are risks in these sorts of systems. Regularly, marketers and other people with agendas try to manipulate Wikipedia entries to suit their interests. Intelligence agencies can, and almost certainly have, set themselves up as Tor servers to better eavesdrop on traffic. And a do-gooder could join an alibi club just to expose other members. But for the most part, strangers are willing to help each other, and systems that harvest this kindness work very well on the Internet.

Categories: Psychology of Security

Tags: Wall Street Journal

Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.

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These 26 Stories About Strangers Helping People In Need Will Remind You That Humanity Is Not Doomed

Take comfort in these stories of the best of humanity.

BuzzFeed Staff Writer

We asked the BuzzFeed community to share their favorite stories of a time they received an act of kindness from a stranger . The results were overwhelmingly heartfelt and moving.

1. a nurse that went above and beyond:.

"One time I had an ovarian cyst and had to go to the hospital. I had no one to watch my 1-year-old son so I had to bring him with me. I was crying really hard because I couldn’t get my son to sit still with me and he kept trying to pull on my tubes. I just broke down. My phone was dead so I couldn’t call anyone. One of the nurses came up to me in my room and asked me if it was alright if she tried to calm my son down and give me a break. She brought some toys and a blanket back for him, and she held him in her arms and played with him so that I could calm down until my mother-in-law showed up. I didn’t even get her name, but it was so meaningful that she would show enough compassion to help us. Angels are REAL."

— pattiecolvin23

2. A guardian angel at the gas station:

"I was 40 miles from home in a high-crime area for a work obligation and I had driven with my empty gas tank light on for the entire trip there. I had $1.67 on my debit card and as I asked the clerk at the sketchy gas station I stopped at to put $1.00 on my pump, a man walked in. My card was declined so I sat in my car trying to find any change or singles I might have stashed. The man came up to my car and told me he put $5.00 on my pump. I don't know if this man has any idea how much he helped me but it got me home safe even though I cried tears of appreciation for most of my drive."

— oliviaf41947d6af

3. A good samaritan on a bicycle:

"I had just moved to a new country with my husband and 6-month-old baby. I had nothing to do and knew no one, so I went for a walk with the baby in the stroller and was about three miles from our apartment when the stroller tire got a puncture and went flat. I knew my son was going to start crying if we took too long and I was getting anxious about embarrassing myself in a foreign country. A very nice man was riding his bike and hopped off and said he had a tire repair kit and patched up my tire, inflated it, and even topped up the air in the rest of the tires. It only took him about five minutes and then he just hopped back on his bike and left, but it saved me so much time and stress and I am so grateful still."

— luvalatte

4. Generosity at the grocery store:

"I was grocery shopping when I received a call that my grandpa had died. My grandpa and I were close my whole life, everybody called me his little shadow. We knew it was coming, but to hear it over the phone put me into a shock. I just stood there and went white and numb. An older couple happened to be standing near me and sensed something was wrong. They asked but I couldn’t make words come out. They sat with me for a while, got ahold of my best friend to come pick me up, AND bought the groceries in my cart. Then, not too long after, they sent flowers to my house! Apparently they had my friend’s phone number from when they called her and they paid her to send a bouquet to me. That was one of the worst days of my life and I miss my grandpa every single day, but that kindness and humanity makes me cry in a good way."

— susieunderpants

5. A gentlemanly gesture:

"It was raining really hard one afternoon and I was walking back to my car with my groceries for the week and an old man offered to share his umbrella with me and walked me all the way to my car."

6. A quiet gesture of comfort and care:

"I'm a burn survivor. I was injured when someone neglectfully tossed chemicals on a bonfire. I spent a month in the hospital, had to have surgery, etc. When I got home I was severely depressed and struggled with PTSD. My mom decided to get me out of the house and took me to get my nails done and a pedicure. My usual nail girl was aware of the incident and was quietly asking me questions while I got my pedicure. When it was time to pay, they told me the woman seated next to me paid for my entire treatment and tip. It was a small gesture, but it made me burst into tears. I was so grateful. I never got to thank her."

— taylorb461b6566d

7. A grateful tribute for a veteran:

"We went to have all-you-can-eat steamed crabs at a local seafood joint here in Maryland. It was a nice break from our grandchildren that we raise. A friendly gent next to us asked my husband if he was in the Marines — he was wearing a T-shirt with USMC — and he said that he was. They chatted on and off while I enjoyed my steamed crab. He and his family got up and thanked my hubby for his service. After they left, the waitress came over and said that the man and his family paid for our meal. I will forever remain grateful and humbled by this experience. We have paid uniformed military tabs a time or two, paid for the car behind us in toll booths or a fast food joint but have never had it happen to us. Amazing feeling. We should all do things like this when we can."

— tangeemckenrickw

8. A kind word in the middle of a toddler meltdown:

"One time while I was out shopping, my toddler was in the cart having an absolute meltdown over a toy. I was mortified. My kid was literally screaming like she was being stabbed and people were giving me all sorts of disapproving looks. I felt like a total failure as a mom and I am sure that my face was as red as a tomato. A random man was walking by me with his cart and put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Been there, done that. It happens to the best of us,' and walked away. His tiny little comment made me feel so much better about myself. Thank you sir for calming me in my time of need. I appreciated it."

— jesskelleherf

9. A server who went beyond the call of duty:

"I was a kid on vacation in France . Being a teenager, I was starving and asked the waitress for a French classic, a croque monsieur. Sadly, the kitchen at that place had been closed for the day. However this wonderful waitress ran all the way to the restaurant across the street to find me a sandwich. It was such a big deal to me because I was starving and this woman who didn’t even speak much English, went out of her way to do something kind for a random tourist."

— michelleg45101cb41

10. A warm meal for a tired worker:

"When I was working at Hobby Lobby during the Christmas season, I was sick and had almost lost my voice, but kept my attitude very upbeat. It was almost at the end of the night when this elderly couple came through my line. We started joking about them going to Cracker Barrel and the man asked me what I wanted. I joked about meatloaf and green beans with a sweet tea. About 20 minutes later, the elderly couple came back into the store with a bag from Cracker Barrel with my exact order, down to the sweet tea. The lady whispered, 'Merry Christmas' to me and I literally cried right there in the store."

— hollye4bc461713

11. A Bubbie to the rescue:

"I took my then 3-year-old to Florida to see my grandma. While waiting to board the plane my son fell asleep. I had him in my arms, his stroller, my diaper bag, and our carry-on luggage. Out of nowhere a little old lady came up to me and said, 'My darling there you are! Let Bubbie help you with the baby!' There I was with my blue hair, tattoos and piercings, and a sleeping child and this Jewish grandma came to save the day. I hugged her and thanked her and handed her my sleeping son so we could board together. When we finally got to my seat, she asked the man next to me if she could sit next to us and he very quickly gave up his seat. I looked at her and said, 'This was Bashert,' which means 'meant to be' in Yiddish. She smiled and said, 'Yes it was.' And there we sat on our flight to the motherland, Florida. Two very different Jewish mothers and a little boy who slept through the whole thing. I'd love to find my mystery Bubbie and thank her again but I'm sure she knows."

— lisar4b4c8cc6c

12. A Christmas miracle:

"My parents got divorced when I was 10. My mom and I struggled financially after that and our first few holidays were hard. My first Christmas after the divorce was difficult and emotional for both of us. On our first Christmas Eve without my dad our doorbell rang, and when I opened the door no one was there, but someone had left an envelope. In the envelope was a card from 'Santa' with a few hundred dollar bills. Someone had anonymously tried to give us a great Christmas, and to this day we still have no idea who it was! I’ll remember that forever."

13. A celebration of life:

"When I was 23, I was going through chemo and the day I found out it was working and I would survive, my friend and I went to lunch and an anonymous person covered the bill. That was the most important day of my life and the person who covered the bill will never know just how much it meant to me. I wish I could say thank you but since I cannot I try and pay it forward."

— rebeccanealonr

14. A single mom's new hero:

"I was a single mom, working at a well-known Italian restaurant, pulling doubles whilst putting myself through school. After picking my son up from my dad's house, I took him for an ice cream . I left my server book, with all my cash, at the ice cream shop downtown. About $180 in all. By the time I realized it and went back it was gone. I got to work the next day, and found out that a gentleman had brought my server book back to the restaurant, every dollar accounted for. He guessed which location to bring it to and they knew it was mine because I had a picture of my son taped inside. It still makes me tear up."

— smurakami86

15. Two habitual do-gooders:

"My husband and I went to the San Diego Zoo on our honeymoon. Before we could pay the $50 per person entry fee, two older ladies approached us and offered to take us in on their membership passes. Turns out they had both purchased memberships that allow you a guest entry every visit, and went walking at the zoo often. Every time they went, they take a couple of strangers in for free with them. Not necessarily life changing, but wonderful for a couple of newlyweds on a budget."

— scarfmonster

16. A life-saving love story:

"I moved to California last month completely on my own. Two weeks after I got here, I was in a huge car accident. Not only had I just arrived but I had absolutely no one to call in an emergency. Going through such a major trauma with no one by your side was the worst feeling in the world. However, that day a ton of strangers banded together to make sure I didn't feel alone. The paramedics and firefighters not only saved me at the scene, but ended up falling in love with my dog who was in the accident with me, so they brought him back to their fire station and kept him while I was in the hospital recovering. And my nurses were out of this world. When they heard I didn't have anyone to come get me and no way to get home and had pretty much lost everything in the crash, they banded together and raised hundreds of dollars of their own money to pay for me to get home and have something in my pocket to start rebuilding. They were my literal angels and I don't even have the words to express adequate thanks.

I'm now dating one of the paramedics who saved my life and took care of my dog. So maybe everything happens for a reason." — frodofreaklotr

17. A generous lift:

"A woman drove me 30 miles to work when my car broke down at the gas station." — courtiepaigee

18. A hug and a braid to remember:

"When I was in high school, I struggled really badly with depression and anxiety. One day I left class because I started having a panic attack. I was crying in the bathroom alone when a girl came in. I didn't know her, but she hugged me hard and let me cry, and then she re-braided my hair for me, which had come undone while I was crying. It was such an act of kindness when I was at a low point, and even though this was six years ago now, I still remember it."

— mairesequin

19. A life-saving donation:

"A young man passed away and donated his kidney to me. I don't know anything more about him, not even his name, but he saved my life and the lives of many other people. Thanks to his generosity and the kindness of his family during an impossible time I wake up healthy everyday." — damnitno

20. A concerned stranger:

"After my family and I lost our home in the Tubbs fire last year, I found myself sobbing in a McDonald's parking lot a day or two later. I didn't think anybody could hear or see me but a woman came over to my car, gave me a huge hug, and pulled out her wallet to give me a fifty dollar bill. I kept trying to give it back to her, but she insisted. I felt like I could do nothing but cry more and tell her thank you, while the only thing she told me was, to keep it and help my family. I never even got her name." — lionesserin91

21. A hand-picked bridal bouquet:

"On my wedding day, my husband and I were taking pictures after our courthouse wedding, and a woman from afar saw us taking pictures by the river walk. She noticed that I didn't have a bouquet of flowers so she cut some flowers from her garden and brought them over to us. She said it was just what I needed to be a perfect bride. To this day, I'm always grateful that this wonderful and kind woman exits." — i487aca532

22. Some much-needed shelter during a house fire:

"My house had caught on fire from the backyard, resulting in the whole house up in flames. I had been running around outside barefoot panicking, and had an asthma attack from the smoke in the air while people filmed me and my home. A woman living on the same street quickly opened her home to me and my three younger siblings, lending me a pair of shoes when we found out a firefighter had rescued one of our cats so I could take her to a vet. I am still so shocked and thankful for her kindness and generosity to people who were sobbing on the street, knowing nothing about us, giving my family a safe space in a moment of despair." — calliam

23. An unexpected pizza delivery:

"I used to work the front desk at the YMCA. There was a dad who used to come in pretty regularly with his little girl, who I always made sure to greet with a big smile and ask how she was. One night, as they were leaving he was talking to her about getting pizza, and I jokingly said that I could really go for a pizza too. He asked me what kind, and I told him, thinking he was just playing along. Twenty minutes later, he comes back in and hands me an entire pizza. Easily my favorite memory from working there." — ljvincent

24. An impressive display of respect from some young kids:

"I live in South Carolina, so our southern roots tend to melt like butter on a hot day when we witness or receive kindness. My Grandma had died and as we were driving from the church to the cemetery, three little boys, roughly aged 6-9, who had been riding their bicycles got off of their bikes, took their tiny little baseball caps off, and put them over their hearts and stayed in that position until I could no longer see them. That’s the only thing from that day 20 years ago that I remember. Even my black, nasty teenage heart melted over that small gesture." — tracyp10

25. An angel who opened her home to a complete stranger:

"I was in grad school and 70 miles from home when my car blew a gasket in a snowstorm. On a Sunday. No mechanic shops open, and no one would tow my car back to my place until the snowstorm lifted because of the dangerous roads. I was crying in a coffee shop on the phone, and a woman approached me and offered me a place to stay for the night. She did not know me at all, and she took me back to her house where I ate dinner with her, her mom, and her kids and slept in borrowed pajamas in her office. The next day she drove me back to my car and I got towed home. I will never forget what extreme kindness it must have taken to bring a stranger into your home with your kids like that." — raphaelahops

26. Ladies helping ladies:

"I was at a football game tailgating and unexpectedly got my period. I have a wallet-style phone case so all I had with me was my phone, ID, and credit card. The game was starting in about an hour so everyone was trickling into the stands. I found the closest bathroom, ran in, and it was packed. There was a line of about 25 girls waiting for stalls. I screamed, 'Ladies!! Please help me! It’s an emergency, does anyone have a tampon??' And I kid you not almost every damn one of them held one up and there were hands with tampons coming out from under stalls and if that’s not enough to make a girl on her period cry, they then all let me skip the line to take care of business. I love girls' girls."

— dutchtritan

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Talk about a time when you helped someone

Talk about a time when you helped someone or Describe a time when you helped a Friend You should say:

• Who was he?
• How did you know him?
• How did you help?
• Talk about a time when you helped someone?

Sample  1:-

Well, We all need help at some point in time in our lives. I also received help much time and help others too. When we help others, It makes us happy and polite, also shows our behaviour towards others. Today, I have asked to talk about a time when I helped someone else. I remember an incident when I was in 10th standard. I helped my needy friend who was my class fellow.

His name was Avneet Singh and belong to a poor family. He didn’t have enough money to buy books. And I used to receive a hundred rupees per month pocket money in those days. Usually, I spent that money on chocolates and  I love chocolates.

I decided to help him by giving all my pocket money to him. So, he could be able to buy books. I remember his face that how he became happy. Then, he bought books. Since then, we have been best friends. To be honest, I felt happy at that moment that feeling was extremely different which I never felt before.

I realized that some things can give more happiness than eating chocolates.

Sample 2:- Talk about a time when you helped someone

Well, it is a moral value to help someone in any difficult situation. And here I would like to talk about a time when I helped an unknown person. I describe it briefly.

About a couple of months ago, I was going to college. Actually, my college is located at some distance from my hometown. I go there via bus. Once a day, I took a bus at about 9:30 am to reach my destination. On this bus, I sit down on a seat and felt relaxed.

But suddenly, I felt something in my feet. I thought it is a paper or a small notebook of someone other. But when I stooped down to take it, I saw that it was a passport. I checked it and asked about it to all the people who were available on that bus. But everyone said no to this passport. that passport was of someone other.

I read the address on it and that address was of a village named “Malliana” which is nearby my hometown. I took it with me. Then, on the next day, I went to “Mariana” village and asked a villager about a home address which was available on that passport.

I easily found that home address. I went there and knocked on the door. A lady opened the door. I told her about the lost passport.

She felt immensely glad after listen to it from me. Because of that passport of her son. She gave respect to me and thanked me. I also felt highly elated by helping a human being.

All in all, that was the time when I helped an unknown person.

Sample 3:- Talk about a time when you helped someone

Although, I belong to an educated family consists of 5 members, my father. my mother, my two siblings and myself, We are all spending our lines with great enthusiasm.

Even though, I have remembered all the moral values given by my parents to me such as help others, respect to elders, love with the country and so on.

Generally, about two months ago, I had helped an old and feeble person. On one Sunday, I was sitting on my home’s roof in the evening. Then, I saw that an old person was wondering in my locality here and there.

Unfortunately, he was not looking well. It seemed that he was asking about an address or location.

Hence, I went outside and asked that person about the matter. He told me that he is looking for an address. At the same time, the weather was too hot because this happened during the summer season.

So, I took that old person to my house and gave water to him for drinking. He felt relax and cool. Then, I asked him about the address for which he was wandering. He told me everything.

Initially, after it, I went with him on my motorbike and dropped him at the same address which was that old person searching.

Eventually, I had helped him by dropping him at his destination. He blessed me a lot. I felt very much glad after seeing a smile on his face. I felt myself on the ninth cloud by happiness.

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IELTS FEVER

3 thoughts on “talk about a time when you helped someone”.

Pingback: January 2020 to April 2020 Cue Cards with Answers UpDated - IELTS FEVER

Hi , it happened with me when I was in 1 standard her name was Ardhya I gave her all money of my pocket money but when my mom asked me to show the piggy bank it was nothing so, first she asked where is it I told I gave all my pocket money to my best friend because she have to buy books 📚 my mother was very happy and I day when I want to buy 1 book 📖 but that time I don’t have money so I meet to my best friend she gave me some money I was happy I bought the book and we read it together 😊😊

i like sample 2 it is so nice

Analysis of Stranger in The Village

• Categories: Race

About this sample

Words: 718 |

Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 718 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, the experience of otherness, the dehumanizing effect of racism, the fluidity of identity, the broader implications of racism, the nature of power and privilege, the transformative power of education.

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Essay on A Stranger

Students are often asked to write an essay on A Stranger in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on A Stranger

Who is a stranger.

A stranger is a person we do not know. We meet strangers every day. They could be in the park, at the store, or on the street. It’s normal to feel curious about them. We might wonder about their lives, their jobs, or where they come from.

Interacting with Strangers

It’s okay to talk to strangers in safe places. Always be polite and kind. But remember, it’s important to keep personal details private. Don’t share your name, address, or phone number. It’s best to talk about simple things like the weather or a favorite sport.

Strangers and Safety

Safety is crucial when dealing with strangers. Always stay in public areas. If a stranger makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s okay to walk away. Tell a trusted adult if something feels wrong. Remember, your safety comes first.

Strangers Can Become Friends

Sometimes, strangers become friends. You might meet someone at school or a club who starts as a stranger. Over time, as you get to know them, they might become a good friend. It’s a beautiful part of life.

250 Words Essay on A Stranger

A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to you. This person could be someone you see in a park, at the bus stop, or in a store. You don’t know their name, where they live, or anything about their life. They are just like a book you haven’t read yet.

Meeting a Stranger

Meeting a stranger can be an interesting experience. You might feel curious about them. You might wonder about their life, their interests, and their story. Every person has a unique story, and a stranger is no different.

It’s important to remember that not all strangers are friendly. Some might mean harm. This is why it’s crucial to be careful. When you’re a kid, you should always stay near trusted adults and never go anywhere with a stranger.

Sometimes, strangers can become friends. Think about your best friend. There was a time when you didn’t know them, right? They were a stranger to you. But then, you got to know each other. You shared laughs, stories, and maybe even secrets. And just like that, a stranger became a friend.

The Beauty of Diversity

Strangers show us the beauty of diversity. They come from different places, have different cultures, and different ideas. This diversity makes our world more vibrant and exciting.

In conclusion, a stranger is someone unknown to us. While we should be careful around them for safety, they can also become our friends. They help us appreciate the diversity in our world.

500 Words Essay on A Stranger

Introduction.

A stranger is a person we do not know or recognize. We often meet strangers in public places like parks, buses, schools, and markets. Some strangers may become our friends, while others remain unknown. This essay will explore the concept of a stranger in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.

When we meet a stranger, we usually feel a mix of curiosity and caution. Curiosity because we want to know more about the person, and caution because we are unsure about their intentions. It’s natural to feel this way. We should always be careful when dealing with strangers, especially if they approach us in a way that makes us uncomfortable.

The Stranger’s Role

Strangers play an important role in our lives. They can teach us new things and introduce us to different cultures, ideas, and perspectives. For example, a stranger from a different country can tell us about their traditions, food, and way of life. This helps us learn about the world outside our own experiences.

While strangers can be interesting, we also need to remember safety. Children are often taught about “stranger danger”. This means they should be careful around people they don’t know. They should never go anywhere with a stranger or take anything from them. It’s good advice for everyone, not just children. We should always trust our instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Strangers Becoming Friends

Every friend was once a stranger. It’s a strange thought, isn’t it? But it’s true. We meet new people, get to know them, and over time, some of them become our friends. This is one of the most exciting parts about meeting strangers. You never know who might end up being an important part of your life.

Strangers in the Digital World

In today’s digital world, we meet more strangers online than in person. We should be just as careful online as we are in real life. It’s easy for people to pretend to be someone they’re not on the internet. Always remember to protect your personal information and never share it with strangers online.

In conclusion, strangers are a part of our daily lives. They can offer new insights and perspectives, but we should always be careful and prioritize our safety. Remember, every friend was once a stranger, and who knows, the next stranger you meet could end up being a good friend. But always remember to be safe, whether you’re meeting strangers in person or online.

This essay has explored the concept of a stranger in a simple way. We learned about meeting strangers, their role in our lives, safety considerations, and the possibility of strangers becoming friends. We also discussed the role of strangers in the digital world. Remember, it’s okay to be curious, but it’s also important to stay safe!

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The Stranger Essay

The Stranger is one of the most famous novels by Albert Camus. The novel tells the story of Meursault, a man who is seemingly indifferent to the death of his mother and the trial that follows her death. The book has been praised for its exploration of freedom and death, two central themes in Camus’s philosophy. In The Stranger, Camus challenges our notions of what it means to be free and whether or not we can truly control our own destiny. The book is a powerful reminder that life is unpredictable and often meaningless, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live it to the fullest.

The idea that individuals are free when they die is taken from The Stranger by Camus, as it is in all of his works. One dependent on the other, freedom and death are major themes in Camus’s view. For Camus, freedom springs from a sense of ones life; it is an intense magnificent existence that does not need to be redeemed or regretted. Death is unjustified and ridiculous; it simply represents a return to the cosmos for a liberated individual.

The key to this awareness is lucidity, seeing things as they are without illusions. The stranger is the character in The Stranger who most fully embodies and experiences these ideas. The novel also dramatizes the confrontation of the individual with an unjust, absurd world. The central problem of the novel is whether or not the stranger can maintain his freedom and integrity in the face of a hostile and indifferent universe. The answer to this question is ambiguous, and its ambiguity is one of the chief sources of the novels power.

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus explores the idea that life may have no inherent meaning but that it can be lived fully in accordance with ones own values. The title refers to the ancient Greek legend of Sisyphus, a man condemned by the gods to roll a heavy rock up a hill, only to have it roll back down again each time he nears the top.

The point of the story is that Sisyphus chooses to continue his task even though it is pointless; in so doing, he affirms life and gives it meaning. The character of Meursault in The Stranger may be seen as a modern-day Sisyphus. Like Sisyphus, Meursault is an individual who feels no connection to the world around him and who experiences life as meaningless. Yet he persists in living, despite the futility of existence. In this way, he too affirms life.

In a nutshell, The Stranger is a Camusian parable about the necessity of what is necessary for freedom. Meursault, the protagonist of The Stranger, is not a person one would encounter in real life in this regard; until the novel’s conclusion, Meursault was unable to attain enlightenment and freedom from Camus philosophy.

The Stranger begins with Meursault receiving a telegram informing him of his mother death. The first act that Meursault does is to go and inform his employer, for which he is reprimanded. From the very beginning, then, we see that Meursault is indifferent to the social conventions that most people live by. This indifference toward social conventions continues when Meursault attends his mother funeral. He shows no emotion whatsoever during the funeral, which shocks and upsets everyone else in attendance.

The only thing that Meursault seems to be concerned about is whether or not the funeral will interfere with his plans for the weekend.

After the funeral, Meursault goes on vacation with a friend named Raymond. While on vacation, they meet some Arabs, and Raymond gets into a fight with one of them. The next day, Meursault goes for a walk on the beach with Raymond and the Arabs. The Arabs spot them and start following them.

Meursault and Raymond eventually lose them, but when they go back to where they are staying, they see the Arabs again. The Arabs start throwing rocks at them, and one of the rocks hits Raymond in the face. The two men then go back to town to get a gun, and they go back to the beach and kill the Arabs.

Back in court, Meursault is found guilty of murder. The prosecutor tries to get him to show some regret or emotion for what he has done, but Meursault remains indifferent. The only thing that matters to him is whether or not he will be executed. In the end, Meursault is sentenced to death, and he accepts it without any regrets.

Camus’s philosophy is based on the idea that there is no inherent meaning in life, but that we can create our own meaning by living in accordance with our own values. This is what Camus calls “the absurd” – the recognition that life is ultimately meaningless, but that we can choose to live in a way that makes our life meaningful. The goal of Camus’s philosophy is to achieve a “state of freedom” in which we are able to live authentically, according to our own values, despite the absurdity of life.

Meursault is not able to achieve this state of freedom until the end of the book, but he is still living in accordance with Camus’s philosophy even though he is not aware of it. The fact that Meursault is indifferent to social conventions and does not care about anything except his own interests shows that he is living authentically, in accordance with his own values. The fact that he is willing to accept death without any regrets shows that he has achieved a state of freedom in which he is not afraid of death or of the absurd.

An irreligious person from a nation that has never heard of Christianity is an example of his counterpart in the Christian worldview. Having it explained to him by a missionary, he understands he has never sinned, which represents the morality and characteristics needed for liberty in this case. What was Meursault’s underlying moral value? His foremost character trait is his dedication to absolute knowledge. While Meursault’s truth of being and feeling takes this form, it remains true for the conquest of the self or the world.

The absolute, according to Camus, liberates. The second trait is Meursault’s courage in the face of death. The hero is he who faces death without flinching and thereby affirms life. To be sure, Meursault does not so much confront death as accept it as a natural phenomenon; but this is tantamount to the same thing. For Camus, life and death are two aspects of the same reality. The third quality is Meursault’s detachment or indifference to opinion. He does not care what people think of him; he lives for himself alone”

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The judge in Trump's classified documents case just gave him exactly what he wanted — again

• Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday delayed Donald Trump's classified documents case indefinitely.
• Legal experts and political strategists say it's the latest win the Trump-appointed judge has handed him.
• It's also the latest example of one of Trump's cases being delayed potentially in his favor.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon handed former President Donald Trump yet another legal win when she delayed his classified documents case indefinitely on Tuesday.

Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, had previously scheduled jury selection for the case to begin on May 20. However, in her Tuesday order, she scheduled more than a dozen additional hearings and deadlines for lawyers through July so that she could rule on "myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues," referencing the Classified Information Procedures Act, before the trial could begin.

Trump has been charged with 37 counts , including 31 alleged violations of the Espionage Act for "willful retention of national defense information," related to his handling of classified documents taken to his Mar-a-Lago club after leaving office. He has pleaded not guilty.

Legal experts and political strategists who spoke with Business Insider said the move wasn't a surprise since she has repeatedly sided with Trump on issues that have come up during the case's proceedings, throwing a wrench in special counsel Jack Smith's case. Smith's office declined to comment on the latest order.

"With Judge Canon reversing her own decision today, there is a high likelihood the case will get pushed out past the election," litigation and appeals attorney Katie Charleston, whose background in jury trials includes extensive experience reviewing government contracts and procedures, told BI.

If that's the case, and Trump is elected President again in November's presidential election, it's possible he could get rid of each of the cases brought by the Justice Department — meaning he could dodge this trial entirely.

It's just the latest legal win for Trump in the classified documents case handed to him by Cannon . Previously, she ruled that a special master should review the classified documents seized by the FBI from Mar-A-Lago, though the decision was ultimately reversed in a blistering opinion by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Cannon has also previously denied the special counsel's request to hide the names of potential witnesses in the case, though legal experts earlier this year told BI that decision would also probably be overturned on appeal . Last month, Cannon agreed to the prosecutor's request to redact witness names, per the Associated Press, though she refused to prevent witness statements from being disclosed in pretrial motions.

CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid pointed out that Cannon's critics have questioned whether her favorable rulings to Trump are due to bias, inexperience, or "analysis paralysis." The US District Court of Southern Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Judge Cannon has ruled in Trump's favor at almost every possible turn, so I'm not surprised that she delayed the trial indefinitely," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told BI following the latest trial delay. "She is inexperienced and seems in over her head. She's made a number of bizarre rulings that aren't supported by logic or the law, and she has already been overturned by the 11th Circuit multiple times."

Rahmani added that the delay is a significant benefit to the former president, "especially in the middle of another trial and the presidential campaign," making this ruling "yet another win for Trump in South Florida."

Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House attorney, told CNN on Tuesday that Cannon's latest decision was "a combination of bias and incompetence."

"I think it was always her objective, frankly, to prevent this from going to trial," he said.

On the political front, Cannon's decision galvanizes Trump's allies, according to Charlie Kolean, the chief strategist at RED PAC, which supports Republican candidates. Kolean told BI that to his supporters, the decision "proves Trump's point" that the prosecution is "a political witch hunt," indicating that Trump's supporters generally see the ruling as evidence that the law is on Trump's side.

While many legal experts have suggested that Cannon has offered Trump favorable treatment throughout the proceedings, the confidential information at hand in the case does require careful consideration, which means such delays are to be expected, according to attorney and legal analyst Tre Lovell.

But regardless of her intention, it's still a win for Trump, whose legal strategy in his four criminal cases is "delay, delay, delay," according to Doron Kalir, a professor at Cleveland State University College of Law.

It's just the latest example of one of Trump's trials getting delayed . The January 6 trial is on hold while the Supreme Court decides on presidential immunity, and the Georgia case was delayed due to allegations of a romantic relationship between DA Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.

Trump's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

In light of Cannon's latest delay, Kalir said it was not surprising given her prior actions on the case.

He also noted that Trump's lawyers have succeeded in delaying three of the four cases against him — the exception being the hush-money case which is currently at trial in New York — calling it "quite an impressive record!"

Watch: Here are all the trials Trump faces and how they could affect his election

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Judge’s Decisions in Documents Case Play Into Trump’s Delay Strategy

Judge Aileen Cannon has given sober consideration to arguments that some experts say should have been promptly dispensed with, leaving a backlog of pretrial issues without a trial date in sight.

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By Alan Feuer

The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon to avoid picking a date yet for former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents trial is the latest indication of how her handling of the case has played into Mr. Trump’s own strategy of delaying the proceeding.

It is not impossible that the trial could still take place before Election Day, but the path is exceedingly narrow. And the question of when — or even whether — the charges against Mr. Trump will go before a jury will now largely hinge on how Judge Cannon handles an array of pretrial matters in the next few months, issues that many legal experts have said she could dispense with much more quickly.

Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in his final days in office, has been on the bench for only four years. She has limited experience overseeing trials of any kind — let alone one involving explosive allegations that a former president and current candidate illegally took highly classified state secrets from the White House after he left office and then obstructed the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them.

For months now, she has stood in the glare of the spotlight with each of her most minute decisions scrutinized by an often critical gallery of legal scholars and reporters.

Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge who was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, said that rookie jurists handling prominent matters deserve some measure of leeway. But she added that Judge Cannon had put herself outside the normal boundaries with her languid pace and her willingness to grant a sober audience to several of Mr. Trump’s “meshuggeneh motions.”

“For a new judge in a big case, she could just be being careful, but the length of time all of this has taken and things she is allowing seems way beyond that,” Judge Gertner said. “She is treating everything the defense has done as if they all raise substantial and important issues, and that’s just not true.”

Throughout the case, Judge Cannon has shown herself willing to devote significant time to hearing legal motions in person that many federal judges would likely have rejected out of hand or at least decided more quickly on the merits of written filings.

In April, for example, she conducted a hearing to consider giving Mr. Trump’s two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, what is known as a bill of particulars, a detailed recitation of the charges in the case supplementing those laid out in the indictment.

Such documents are almost never granted to criminal defendants. And while Judge Cannon ultimately denied the requests , her decision to open her courtroom to the issue in the first place was unusual.

Even more unusual perhaps was a separate decision, contained in her new scheduling order, to set a hearing in late June to decide what is known as the scope of the prosecution team working under Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to oversee the federal prosecutions of Mr. Trump.

Prosecutors vehemently fought the move in March, telling Judge Cannon that no such proceeding had ever been held in the Southern District of Florida where she sits, and that there was neither case law nor any other legal authority to permit it.

But the hearing will now take place over the course of three full days. Her decision to hold it means Mr. Trump’s lawyers will presumably be able to explore a twisted question of the law: whether they are entitled to learn more from prosecutors about how they went about pulling together the evidence turned over to the defense team as part of the discovery process.

That issue began percolating four months ago when Mr. Trump’s lawyers told Judge Cannon in court papers that they needed more discovery. They asked specifically for information about how Mr. Smith may have worked with officials at the National Archives and with a vast swath of the U.S. national security establishment — including top intelligence, defense and Justice Department personnel — in bringing the case against Mr. Trump.

The lawyers want that information to bolster their claims that Mr. Smith worked hand in glove with the White House and other officials to prosecute Mr. Trump. And if Judge Cannon tells them they can have it, the case will be further delayed as prosecutors make their way through various federal agencies to collect it and turn it over to the defense.

More delays are likely to emerge from another of Judge Cannon’s decisions this week: to postpone until mid-June the deadline for Mr. Trump’s lawyers to submit a critical filing detailing an inventory of the classified materials they intend to use at trial.

The filing of that inventory is enormously important because it will begin a pitched and probably lengthy battle between the defense and prosecution over what sorts of classified materials the jury and the public will ultimately hear about.

Mr. Smith’s team had originally asked Judge Cannon to force the defense to submit the classified filing by mid-March. Mr. Trump’s lawyers, on the other hand, had initially pushed for June 17.

Appearing to split the difference last month, Judge Cannon set the deadline for May 9. But after last-minute pleas by Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta to postpone it, she abruptly changed her mind on Tuesday and granted the defense’s original request.

“The way this is playing out makes it extraordinarily unlikely that there will be a trial before November,” said Brian Greer, a former lawyer for the C.I.A. who specializes in issues involving classified material.

Mr. Greer, who has followed the case closely, noted that Judge Cannon’s new date for the briefing was actually the second time she had changed the deadline, which had initially been set for November.

He also pointed out that the judge’s new calendar did not include all of the necessary filings concerning classified documents. The government will still have to file its own set of papers about what sorts of sensitive materials should be revealed at trial — a process that, of course, will take more time.

Complicating matters even further, Judge Cannon’s calendar said nothing at all about the deadlines to consider — let alone decide — some of Mr. Trump’s most difficult and potentially consequential motions. Two of those motions have been under seal for more than two months and have not even been placed on the public docket yet.

One of the sealed motions revolves around undisclosed claims by Mr. Trump that members of Mr. Smith’s team engaged in prosecutorial misconduct — an accusation that is sure to be hotly contested by the government.

The other sealed motion — also likely to result in a long fight — has challenged the legality of the F.B.I.’s search of Mar-a-Lago , Mr. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida. It also disputes the way in which the government pierced the normal protections of attorney-client privilege and obtained the audio notes of one of Mr. Trump’s former lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran.

Beyond all of that, there are more tough issues looming, which could add further layers of complexity and delay.

Just this week, for instance, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said they might soon file a motion accusing prosecutors of failing to preserve the integrity of the classified documents at the heart of the case. But it remains unclear, if the motion is filed, how seriously Judge Cannon would actually take it.

Mr. Greer said that her record in the case suggests she has been open to whatever the defense has chosen to send her.

“Certainly, her proclivity so far,” he said, “has been to listen to almost anything.”

Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.  More about Alan Feuer

Our Coverage of the Trump Documents Case

The justice department has filed federal criminal charges against former president donald trump over his mishandling of classified documents..

The Indictment: Federal prosecutors said that Trump put national security secrets at risk  by mishandling classified documents and schemed to block the government from reclaiming the material. Here’s a look at the evidence .

The Co-Defendants: While Trump plays the leading role in the case, the narrative as laid out by prosecutors relies heavily on supporting characters  like Carlos De Oliveira  and Walt Nauta .

Obstruction: The Mueller report raised questions about whether Trump had obstructed the inquiry into the ties between the former president’s 2016 campaign and Russia. With prosecutors adding new charges  in the documents case, the subject is back .

The Judge: Judge Aileen Cannon , a Trump appointee who showed favor to the former president earlier in the investigation, has scant experience  running criminal trials. Can she prove her critics wrong ?

A Slow Pace: Cannon has allowed unresolved issues to build up on her docket, and that appears to have kept her from making a prompt decision on the timing of the case. It is one of several factors that have stirred concern about her decision-making .

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Travis kelce getting on the job training in ryan murphy’s ‘grotesquerie’, travis kelce cast in ryan murphy’s fx series ‘grotesquerie’.

By Katie Campione , Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE : Travis Kelce ‘s foray into Hollywood continues with his first major acting job: a role in Ryan Murphy ‘s high-profile new FX horror series Grotesquerie . According to sources, the NFL star — and global celebrity due to his relationship with Taylor Swift — has been cast opposite Niecy Nash-Betts, Courtney B. Vance and Lesley Manville in the upcoming series, which has just started production. Reps for FX, Murphy and producing studio 20th Television declined comment.

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The series debut is expected to coincide with the next football season, which will see Kelce return to the Kansas City Chiefs coming off the tight end and team’s third Super Bowl win in five years.

Grotesquerie is a follow-up to Kelce’s acting debut as host of Saturday Night Live in March 2023. He also made a cameo alongside Swift on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series this past fall.

With his name gaining global recognition via his high-profile relationship with Swift, Kelce has been in demand. He has been open about his lofty Hollywood ambitions and has been branching out since signing with CAA last year.

Having previously dipped his toes in unscripted TV with his reality dating series Catching Kelce, which ran for one season in 2016, he recently signed on as host of Amazon’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? game show.

Known for his New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother and former NFL center Jason Kelce, Travis Kelce also recently made his debut as an executive producer on the indie film My Dead Friend Zoe , which premiered at SXSW. He is set to produce an upcoming documentary on artist Jean-Michel Basquiat titled King Pleasure.

UPDATE : Following Deadline’s story, Kelce posted a video on this IG stories from the set.

“Guys, guess who I am working with on Grotesquerie ,” Nash-Betts says to the camera before Kelce joins her and says, “Coming into a new territory. With Niecy!.”

Nash asked Kelce how he feels, to which he responded, “I’m just glad I didn’t hurt nobody.”

Murphy is known for helping talent cross over to acting. Several years ago, he gave Lady Gaga her first major role on American Horror Story: Hotel. She went on to star in A Star Is Born, earning an Oscar acting nomination for her performance.

Like Kelce, Gaga also had hosted SNL before getting a shot by Murphy.

Grotesquerie , which Murphy is doing with frequent collaborators Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, released an all-text teaser in February. It included audio of Nash-Betts character, in which she says, “I don’t know when it started, I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s different now. There’s been a shift, like something’s opening up in the world — a kind of hole that descends into a nothingness.”

You can watch it below.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ryan Murphy Productions (@ryanmurphyproductions)

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What is climate change mitigation and why is it urgent?

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• Climate change mitigation involves actions to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
• Mitigation efforts include transitioning to renewable energy sources, enhancing energy efficiency, adopting regenerative agricultural practices and protecting and restoring forests and critical ecosystems.
• Effective mitigation requires a whole-of-society approach and structural transformations to reduce emissions and limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
• International cooperation, for example through the Paris Agreement, is crucial in guiding and achieving global and national mitigation goals.
• Mitigation efforts face challenges such as the world's deep-rooted dependency on fossil fuels, the increased demand for new mineral resources and the difficulties in revamping our food systems.
• These challenges also offer opportunities to improve resilience and contribute to sustainable development.

What is climate change mitigation?

Climate change mitigation refers to any action taken by governments, businesses or people to reduce or prevent greenhouse gases, or to enhance carbon sinks that remove them from the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun in our planet’s atmosphere, keeping it warm. 

Since the industrial era began, human activities have led to the release of dangerous levels of greenhouse gases, causing global warming and climate change. However, despite unequivocal research about the impact of our activities on the planet’s climate and growing awareness of the severe danger climate change poses to our societies, greenhouse gas emissions keep rising. If we can slow down the rise in greenhouse gases, we can slow down the pace of climate change and avoid its worst consequences.

Reducing greenhouse gases can be achieved by:

• Shifting away from fossil fuels : Fossil fuels are the biggest source of greenhouse gases, so transitioning to modern renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power, and advancing sustainable modes of transportation, is crucial.
• Improving energy efficiency : Using less energy overall – in buildings, industries, public and private spaces, energy generation and transmission, and transportation – helps reduce emissions. This can be achieved by using thermal comfort standards, better insulation and energy efficient appliances, and by improving building design, energy transmission systems and vehicles.
• Changing agricultural practices : Certain farming methods release high amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, which are potent greenhouse gases. Regenerative agricultural practices – including enhancing soil health, reducing livestock-related emissions, direct seeding techniques and using cover crops – support mitigation, improve resilience and decrease the cost burden on farmers.
• The sustainable management and conservation of forests : Forests act as carbon sinks , absorbing carbon dioxide and reducing the overall concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Measures to reduce deforestation and forest degradation are key for climate mitigation and generate multiple additional benefits such as biodiversity conservation and improved water cycles.
• Restoring and conserving critical ecosystems : In addition to forests, ecosystems such as wetlands, peatlands, and grasslands, as well as coastal biomes such as mangrove forests, also contribute significantly to carbon sequestration, while supporting biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience.
• Creating a supportive environment : Investments, policies and regulations that encourage emission reductions, such as incentives, carbon pricing and limits on emissions from key sectors are crucial to driving climate change mitigation.

Photo: Stephane Bellerose/UNDP Mauritius

Photo: La Incre and Lizeth Jurado/PROAmazonia

What is the 1.5°C goal and why do we need to stick to it?

In 2015, 196 Parties to the UN Climate Convention in Paris adopted the Paris Agreement , a landmark international treaty, aimed at curbing global warming and addressing the effects of climate change. Its core ambition is to cap the rise in global average temperatures to well below 2°C above levels observed prior to the industrial era, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

The 1.5°C goal is extremely important, especially for vulnerable communities already experiencing severe climate change impacts. Limiting warming below 1.5°C will translate into less extreme weather events and sea level rise, less stress on food production and water access, less biodiversity and ecosystem loss, and a lower chance of irreversible climate consequences.

To limit global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5°C, it is imperative for the world to undertake significant mitigation action. This requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent before 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century.

What are the policy instruments that countries can use to drive mitigation?

Everyone has a role to play in climate change mitigation, from individuals adopting sustainable habits and advocating for change to governments implementing regulations, providing incentives and facilitating investments. The private sector, particularly those businesses and companies responsible for causing high emissions, should take a leading role in innovating, funding and driving climate change mitigation solutions. 

International collaboration and technology transfer is also crucial given the global nature and size of the challenge. As the main platform for international cooperation on climate action, the Paris Agreement has set forth a series of responsibilities and policy tools for its signatories. One of the primary instruments for achieving the goals of the treaty is Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) . These are the national climate pledges that each Party is required to develop and update every five years. NDCs articulate how each country will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhance climate resilience.   While NDCs include short- to medium-term targets, long-term low emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) are policy tools under the Paris Agreement through which countries must show how they plan to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century. These strategies define a long-term vision that gives coherence and direction to shorter-term national climate targets.

Photo: Mucyo Serge/UNDP Rwanda

Photo: William Seal/UNDP Sudan

At the same time, the call for climate change mitigation has evolved into a call for reparative action, where high-income countries are urged to rectify past and ongoing contributions to the climate crisis. This approach reflects the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which advocates for climate justice, recognizing the unequal historical responsibility for the climate crisis, emphasizing that wealthier countries, having profited from high-emission activities, bear a greater obligation to lead in mitigating these impacts. This includes not only reducing their own emissions, but also supporting vulnerable countries in their transition to low-emission development pathways.

Another critical aspect is ensuring a just transition for workers and communities that depend on the fossil fuel industry and its many connected industries. This process must prioritize social equity and create alternative employment opportunities as part of the shift towards renewable energy and more sustainable practices.

For emerging economies, innovation and advancements in technology have now demonstrated that robust economic growth can be achieved with clean, sustainable energy sources. By integrating renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and geothermal power into their growth strategies, these economies can reduce their emissions, enhance energy security and create new economic opportunities and jobs. This shift not only contributes to global mitigation efforts but also sets a precedent for sustainable development.

What are some of the challenges slowing down climate change mitigation efforts?

Mitigating climate change is fraught with complexities, including the global economy's deep-rooted dependency on fossil fuels and the accompanying challenge of eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. This reliance – and the vested interests that have a stake in maintaining it – presents a significant barrier to transitioning to sustainable energy sources.

The shift towards decarbonization and renewable energy is driving increased demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth metals. Since new mining projects can take up to 15 years to yield output, mineral supply chains could become a bottleneck for decarbonization efforts. In addition, these minerals are predominantly found in a few, mostly low-income countries, which could heighten supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical tensions.

Furthermore, due to the significant demand for these minerals and the urgency of the energy transition, the scaled-up investment in the sector has the potential to exacerbate environmental degradation, economic and governance risks, and social inequalities, affecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and workers. Addressing these concerns necessitates implementing social and environmental safeguards, embracing circular economy principles, and establishing and enforcing responsible policies and regulations .

Agriculture is currently the largest driver of deforestation worldwide. A transformation in our food systems to reverse the impact that agriculture has on forests and biodiversity is undoubtedly a complex challenge. But it is also an important opportunity. The latest IPCC report highlights that adaptation and mitigation options related to land, water and food offer the greatest potential in responding to the climate crisis. Shifting to regenerative agricultural practices will not only ensure a healthy, fair and stable food supply for the world’s population, but also help to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

Photo: UNDP India

Photo: Nino Zedginidze/UNDP Georgia

What are some examples of climate change mitigation?

In Mauritius , UNDP, with funding from the Green Climate Fund, has supported the government to install battery energy storage capacity that has enabled 50 MW of intermittent renewable energy to be connected to the grid, helping to avoid 81,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. 

In Indonesia , UNDP has been working with the government for over a decade to support sustainable palm oil production. In 2019, the country adopted a National Action Plan on Sustainable Palm Oil, which was collaboratively developed by government, industry and civil society representatives. The plan increased the adoption of practices to minimize the adverse social and environmental effects of palm oil production and to protect forests. Since 2015, 37 million tonnes of direct greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided and 824,000 hectares of land with high conservation value have been protected.

In Moldova and Paraguay , UNDP has helped set up Green City Labs that are helping build more sustainable cities. This is achieved by implementing urban land use and mobility planning, prioritizing energy efficiency in residential buildings, introducing low-carbon public transport, implementing resource-efficient waste management, and switching to renewable energy sources. 

UNDP has supported the governments of Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Indonesia to implement results-based payments through the REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) framework. These include payments for environmental services and community forest management programmes that channel international climate finance resources to local actors on the ground, specifically forest communities and Indigenous Peoples. 

UNDP is also supporting small island developing states like the Comoros to invest in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. Through the Africa Minigrids Program , solar minigrids will be installed in two priority communities, Grand Comore and Moheli, providing energy access through distributed renewable energy solutions to those hardest to reach.

And in South Africa , a UNDP initative to boost energy efficiency awareness among the general population and improve labelling standards has taken over commercial shopping malls.

What is UNDP’s role in supporting climate change mitigation?

UNDP aims to assist countries with their climate change mitigation efforts, guiding them towards sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient development. This support is in line with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to affordable and clean energy (SDG7), sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), and climate action (SDG13). Specifically, UNDP’s offer of support includes developing and improving legislation and policy, standards and regulations, capacity building, knowledge dissemination, and financial mobilization for countries to pilot and scale-up mitigation solutions such as renewable energy projects, energy efficiency initiatives and sustainable land-use practices. 

With financial support from the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund, UNDP has an active portfolio of 94 climate change mitigation projects in 69 countries. These initiatives are not only aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but also at contributing to sustainable and resilient development pathways.

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