Sometimes, all it takes is one small act of kindness from a stranger to remind you that compassion is still in your corner…
South Africa (26 September 2025) – A reader recently wrote to us, sharing his story of how a stranger’s kindness proved that there are still ‘good’ people out there who are kind, trustworthy, and only want to help.
It started when our reader walked into an arduous battle in court on 23 September. He was there, alongside his wife, to represent himself in a defamation case against someone else. That’s not the story here; the story is what happened after the back-and-forth in court…
“After 2 hours of oral arguments, what seemed like an eternity, my wife and I left the courtroom. To my horror I couldn’t find my iPhone.”
We all know that iPhones are expensive. Not only that, but our reader says that his entire life is on that phone – a truth that many of us can relate to, as we swap important documents, memories and details that, before the age of ‘smartphones’, used to be kept under the mattress or in a drawer, for a folder on a phone.
“Not only is the phone expensive but my entire life is on the phone. Whilst I could very much get another phone and restore from my backup, I have a sentimental attachment to this phone,” says our reader.
And then the “where is it??” panic ensued. A male staff member assured our reader that lost and found items are generally brought to security, and not to panic. Of course, with phone-snatching being a regular occurrence in SA (and other parts of the world, too), our reader had little faith that an item of such value would be returned and in safekeeping, waiting for him.
“I wasn’t so confident that a stranger would pick up a lost iPhone and voluntarily return it when they had over 2 hours to make a run with it,” he said.
To his surprise, there it was, returned by a new employee at the court, a trustworthy stranger.
“A new employee at court…found the phone in the courtroom and kept it safe for us. She didn’t want any monetary reward or even an email sent to her seniors. She said she was just doing what she would expect everyone to do, ‘be kind’,” says our reader.
And that’s the story here, folks.
Sometimes, we can get so wrapped up in the negativity. We spend a lot of time standing firm in what we believe is ‘right’ – in our readers’ case, literally – only to be left feeling like the world is out to get us.
All it takes is one small act from a kind stranger to restore our faith and remind us that it’s not all bad. Kindness, over everything, wins!
Sources: Supplied
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