I used to work as a DSP, i enjoyed the work i was doing but it did not pay very well and I was struggling a lot financially. a lot of my clients liked to go out to eat on our days out and I usually just didn't order anything when we did because I never had the money. i had gone with a client to a local pizza chain one day and when the waitress brought out their food they brought a personal size pizza as well, set it in front of me, told me it was on the house and asked if I'd like a drink to go with it. i nearly cried as i thanked her. i had no money and no food at home to eat, it was because of her that I ate that day at all and I'm still incredibly grateful for her kindness. she didn't know I was struggling or how little I had the chance to eat, she just noticed someone didn't order food and decided they deserved to eat too.

I was on the train home late one night, minding my own business, when this woman comes out of nowhere and sits her a*s next to me. "You'll do," she said and plonked down a bottle of wine (open), and two plastic cups. We spent the journey talking about her breakup, our lives and drinking her wine. Parted ways at the end of the line and have never seen her again. She was brilliant.

I had an very frail old lady ask to hug me at the mall once. As I’m not a monster I obviously obliged. I asked her afterwards why she wanted to hug me of all people , she explained that I looked just like her grandchild that passed away recently. That is a moment I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

In February 2020, I met an angel. I still think about him. Here's the story.

I had just sat down on an international flight home to see my unexpectedly ailing father when I got a call saying he was on a ventilator and may not survive the night. The man next to me very obviously overheard everything, but didn't say anything.

On the flight though, he pulled out a snack and offered me some. This was his way of initiating conversation with me. He said he had overheard the call about my dad and repeatedly expressed a genuine desire for him to pull through. He also told me that I'd be okay no matter what happened. We hugged it out when we deplaned and he again expressed good wishes. If this stranger had not engaged with me, I would've spent the flight silently crying and being in my head. He made that two-hour flight bearable.

Back in high school, I was admitted to an under-18 mental hospital due to some problems I was going through, and I had to stay there until they found it was okay and safe to release me.

During the time I was there, I ended up missing my prom and was really upset by it. The other people in the hospital with me - ranging from ages 10-18 - decided to surprise me with an in-hospital-prom.

We were going into the sensory room (which was a room that had lots of colorful lights and comfortable floors, and we’d play calming music for meditation hours) when the nurse in charge asked me what my favorite song on the radio at the time was. She then surprised me by playing that song instead of the calming music and told me the meditation hour was going to be spent at my very own prom that was organized by my fellow inpatients, and we’d have fun music and the cool lighting. We all danced and laughed together and it’s something I’ll never forget that these people - who I had only known for a day or two - got the nurses to agree to hijack the sensory room and surprised me with my own prom.

Maybe my rock bottom moment?

I was moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the middle of winter to get thrown into rehab.

My family lied to me to get me to move. Said I’d have the place to myself, they had a condo right on the beach that I was going to stay at rent-free to get “mentally healthy again”

Oh no.

So just throwing it out there now,

Rehab is something the a****t needs to choose for themselves.

Anyway, it’s my 2nd day there, I’m losing my s**t because not only am I going through withdrawals but I’m there against my will in someplace I’ve never been, so I escaped.

I packed my bags. Walked right out the door, not even knowing where I was in the state… and started walking.

I was hoping to figure out which way the beach was, but I was in the middle of the snowy woods with no sense of direction.

I realized that if it took an hour to drive here from the condo, it’ll prob take a lot longer to walk, so I decided to play my luck further and stuck my thumb out to hitchhike a ride.

Not only did a person pick me up and not m****r me, but TWO cars picked me up and didn’t attempt to m****r me! (The first one took me a good portion of the way, the second one got me to the condo)

I, of course, was on my defense, had a pen in hand, ready to attack if anything got weird, but they were kind enough to let me warm up in the car and get me along as far as they could take me.

I thanked them both over and over for their kindness and marched my way up the steps to the condo, only to find no one was home.

When they left me at the rehab center, they took my keys and my phone, so I had no one to call, and no way to let myself in - cue the meltdown.

I’m f*****g livid. Freezing. It’s 16 degrees outside and I’m stuck on the windy oceanfront with a duffel bag of clothes from California, and nowhere to go.

I’m thinking to myself- this is it. I’ve finally f****d up so bad, I’m probably going to die now.

Out of sheer anger at myself and my parents, I decide… I’m going to kick in this condo door and get warm.

But the front door was on a step, which was hard to get the right angle to get a solid kick into it, so I just tried slamming my body up against the door, but felt like I was only doing damage to my body.

Just as I was giving in to the sadness and ready to give up… the door next door opens.

It’s a neighbor I’ve never met who has no idea why some guy is trying to break in next door.

I try to catch my breath to tell him, I’m sorry - I’m their son, I’m just trying to get warm. Etc etc

He was an older man, late 50s, who was making breakfast for his daughter in their kitchen when he heard my kicking at the door.

He invited me in, gave me some hot coffee, started chatting with me while the daughter wanted to show me her school work and tell me about their plans for the day.

They were getting ready to go get her dress for some school event when he asked if there was anyone I could call.

I was able to get in touch with my aunt, who recommended I go back to the rehab center.

I was ready to plead with her there over the phone to let me stay with them, but something about this guy and the kid made me feel safer than anyone from my entire family.

I decided to accept my fate and asked the kind stranger if he could take me back, to which he was more than happy to help.

The car ride back to rehab was the exact opposite experience I had when going into rehab.

We talked about his brother who had similar problems to my own.

He spoke with such love for him, it broke my heart to think I was in the same boat, but he reassured me - if his brother could get better, so can I.

Something truly resonated that day for me.

I didn’t want to be a burden to the world from the pain my parents gave me - I wanted to be healed, and to help heal others like this guy.

The kindest stranger I ever met-

Thank you, Mr. Gray. 🙏

I'll never forget the impact this experience had on me.

When I was a kid we didn't have a lot of money, so we often shopped at thrift stores. What I loved about that was that you could get 10 books for a dollar, so I would plant myself in front of the book section and make piles of which one I wanted to get and then decided after I'd gone through them all.

One day an older lady saw me sitting with my piles and asked if I liked to read. I told her I did and showed her a few of the books I found that I liked. She smiled and then pulled a dollar out of her purse, handed it to me and said, "Promise me that you'll keep reading." I was so happy and immediately stood up and said that I would. She smiled and walked away and I went back to my piles able to pick out an extra 10 books to take home.

It was just a small act of kindness for her, but for me having a random stranger encourage my love of reading and making me promise to never stop definitely had a lot to do with my continued love of reading. This was over 20 years ago, but I still think of her whenever I buy a new book.

Salman Khan, a very famous Indian actor. (Edit, It's not the guy from Khan Academy)
He killed someone by driving his car over them. I forget the specifics, but he drove his car over one or more people who where sleeping on the side of the road, killing at least one of them.
He carried on with his acting career and on Indian TV because he is famous.
He ran over 4 people, killing one of them.
He was later found guilty, 13 years after the incident, then appealed and the was cleared and charges quashed.
You can read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/10/bollywood-star-salman-khan-cleared-over-hit-and-run-death

Charlie sheen once had unprotected s*x with his girlfriends (plural) when he has HIV.

R Kelly married Aaliyah when she was 15 years old in the mid 90's and yet it took like two decades for people to start boycotting him as a sexual predator. He was still making songs with beyonce and lady gaga etc for a looooong time.

Coco Chanel was a n**i. Tila Tequila is a n**i.

Here's a list I compiled earlier this year:

Jimmy Page was 26 when he started calling 14 year old Lori Maddox his girlfriend.

Mick Jagger had a few rounds with Maddox around the same time.

Also of the rolling Stones, Bill Wyman started dating 13 year old Mandy Smith when he was 47. He got her mother's permission.

Jerry Lee Lewis of course married his 13 year old cousin - she still believed in Santa on their honeymoon.

Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll himself was routinely in trouble with underage girls and even the fabled romance with Priscilla is a tale of sexual interference... She was 14 when they met.

Courtney Love says she gave Ted Nugent a b*****b when she was 12. He also adopted a 17 year old so he could bang her without getting charged with kidnapping. He even wrote a song about avoiding p********a charges.

Anthony Kiedis (red hot chili peppers) wrote songs about it too, "Catholic school girls rule" is about his hooking up with a 14 year old at 23.

Marvin Gaye knocked up his wife's 15 year old niece.

Don Henley (the Eagles) was charged after paramedics found him with two naked girls, aged 15 and 16.

Jenny McCarthy helping to push the anti vaccination movement.

George Wallace—the infamous pro-segregation Governor of Alabama in the 60s—did not inform his wife that her doctor diagnosed her with cancer (doctors during this time often told patient’s relatives of their cancer diagnosis instead of the patient, especially if the patient was female). The reason was that she was running for governor as a surrogate for him since he had reached his term limits and he thought that the diagnosis would negatively affect her chances of winning. She ended up finding out about it 4 years later during a visit to a gynecologist, but unfortunately the cancer had progressed to the point that she died from it 3 years after learning that she had cancer and that her husband had known about it.

He ended up successfully getting the term limits repealed and went on to serve a few more terms as governor. People forget about this, I’m assuming, because of all of the other s****y things he did.

Edit: Her name was Lurleen Wallace, for those interested.