Kind people in the world

Sometimes we get so bogged down by all the trouble and strife that surrounds us that it makes us cynical and suspicious of others. I feel it is important though to never give up on the belief that there are many good, kind people who are willing to help out and expect nothing in return.

Cognitive bias means that we tend to look for examples in real life to confirm our beliefs and when we believe the world is inherently unkind, we will (often unconsciousIy) notice examples in every day life that confirm what we believe. This causes a skewed view of the world and means that we often miss opportunities to see examples of the opposite of what we believe. Remember that a belief is not a fact and can be challenged and altered. I met a few kind people during my recent visit to Margate and Port Shepstone in South Africa.

One was a friend of a friend, Graham, who let me stay in his home for free. I felt very at home there and played with his three cute dogs and whistled to his yellow budgie called Tweety. Graham and his animals were great ‘therapy’ during a tough time.

The other two people I want to mention are a couple named Gert and Elizabeth.

On my last day in Margate, I popped in to say good bye to my father who was finally at home after a near fatal lung infection that left him on a ventilator and in hospital for nearly three weeks. Lying down for so long causes your muscles to atrophy and my dad’s legs were so weak he wasn’t able to walk. Due to this, I hired a carer named Wiseman to be there full time for my dad until he was able to walk again. When I arrived, Wiseman asked if he could quickly go home to pick up clean clothes. I drove him to the nearest taxi rank to save him time. Upon my return, I was concerned to notice that the electric gate to the complex where my Dad lived refused to open.

I had not taken a mobile phone with me as I had expected to only be gone 5 minutes. The electric gate had been playing up the day before but not actually stopped working completely. I had a flight to catch and needed to leave in one hour. I couldn’t ask my Dad to help as he was indoors and unable to walk and there was no one else living in the complex as all the other apartments were holiday apartments with the owners only staying there temporarily.

I tried climbing over the gate but in South Africa, due to the crime rate, walls have electric fencing and this gate had huge sharp spikes on it.

I drove around the area until I spotted a man with a walking stick heading towards the beach. I drove over to him and asked if he might have a ladder I could borrow to get over the gate with. It might’ve seemed a little suspicious, but he changed his plans and his wife came along too. We went to his house, got a ladder and I then drove them the 5 minutes it took to get back to the errant gate. I climbed over and went to check on my Dad. He explained how to open the gate by putting it onto a manual setting and we were finally A for Away. Had it not been for Gert and Elizabeth I would’ve missed my flight!

I am hugely appreciative of people who help for no other reason than to assist a person in need.

Thank you Graham, Gert and Elizabeth!! You prove that there are kind people in the world – sometimes you just have to look for them.

Mandy X

Photo by symphony of love

Author: Mandy Kloppers

Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.