A random act of kindness – Dr Clare Campbell
The most memorable act of kindness that happened to me occurred when I was a young teacher. My teacher best friend Jo and I had nipped out in my car at lunchtime to get some food and pop into the bank. We parked near the bank, and as we got out of the car, I threw my car keys to Jo for her to put in her bag.
I am a terrible throw, a seriously terrible throw, and I misjudged the height of the throw and the weight of the keys. Instead of throwing in a straight line towards Jo, I threw upwards, so far that the car keys got stuck in an enormous conifer tree in someone’s garden!
The gasp that came from me and Jo was audible! We were about a 20-minute walk from school at the end of our dinner break, and we had to return to teach our classes within 10 minutes. It was a nightmare!
We shook the tree to no avail and tried our hardest to get into the garden, but the house was empty, and no one was home. I am 5ft 0”, and my friend Jo isn’t much taller, so neither of us could reach. I tried to climb onto Jo’s shoulders to reach, but she couldn’t balance, so we ended up in a heap, in fits of giggles.
We tried using sticks to poke the tree and throwing stones to dislodge the keys; we tried everything we could think of. We were so worried that we would get into trouble with our headteacher and neither of us had a mobile phone, so we couldn’t phone the office to let them know we would be late.
When we thought all was lost, a lovely tall gentleman drove up, pulled into the parking space next to us, reached into his boot, and extracted a large golf umbrella. He had seen what we were doing and had come to the rescue. Without effort, he quickly reached into the tree and unhooked the keys. He passed them down to me; I was so grateful!
He was like a knight in shining armour.
He drove up to help us, then drove off again. I’ve never seen him before or since. What a hero! Thanks to the mysterious, handsome stranger, we returned to school in plenty of time.
Headteacher – Dr Clare Campbell
Would you like to contribute and inspire other members of staff?
If the answer is YES, here is what to do:
Fill in the form below, and one of our team will be in touch.
If you visited our Kindness Matters website but do not have a Twitter account, do reach out, and one of our team will be in touch.
Thank you for your kindness
Your Kindness Coach
John