This post is inspired by Shot@Life, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation dedicated to using vaccines as a cost-effective way to save children’s lives in developing countries. (Image courtesy United Nations Foundation.)
Hi team, I need help. Here’s why:
For every comment on this post, Shot@Life gets $20 to vaccinate a kid.
Twenty. Dollars.
Twenty dollars is what it costs to give one child four vaccines that help protect them against measles, pneumonia, diarrhea, and polio. During Shot@Life’s Blogust: Blog Relay for Good, 31 bloggers have been helping to secure $200,000 in sponsor donations. We need 10,000 comments, and we’re about 1,000 away from that goal right now.
Over the years, your comments have shaped my life. Whether you were celebrating Hank’s birth with me, or cheering my Life List, or comforting me when things took a difficult turn. I know you guys care about helping other people because of how much help you’ve already heaped on me.
So let’s do this.
Can you comment twice? Yes. Yes you can. And if you have a means of spreading the word, please Tweet, Pin, link on Facebook, or post a quick link on your own site.
Let us know the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you in comments. And thanks to you for being so nice to other people. I like you.
Yesterday Fadra Nally of All Things Fadra wrote about the comments you never see. Tomorrow, I’m passing the baton to my friend Stacey Ferguson of Justice Fergie — so you can help us reach our final goal by commenting on her site as well. We have until August 31. Thanks again.
Mighty Girl 
Reading all these responses is making me cry. People are good.
When I was in the hospital for an emergency c section my sister came to my house (accompanied by her young children) and cleaned it top to bottom. She then decorated the whole thing with “It’s a Girl” paraphernalia. Since this was my first child she knew how overwhelming those first few weeks could be and made sure I had less things to worry myself with.
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One of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me was taking me in to their home when I was an exchange student. I now realize that it isn’t an easy thing to take in a young stranger for a long time. You don’t know this young person, you don’t know their entire background. Still, my host parents took me into their home and treated me as a daughter. They taught me things that my parents would never teach me because they are a completely different sort of people with a different background and a different mindset. It was an mindblowing and eye opening event for me, staying with a new family.
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I would have to say my husband’s patience when we started dating. I was hesitant (that’s putting it mildly; when he first asked me out, I said, “Let’s give it a shot.” Still makes me cringe…) But now I can’t imagine my life without him. If he had thought I was being cruel or snobbish, I wouldn’t have gotten to marry my best friend.
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When I was unexpectedly induced with my son 3 months ago not one but THREE groups of family and friends came in to my house, cleaned, stocked the fridge and pantry, decorated everywhere, left gifts for me, my husband, the baby and the dog(!).
I am surrounded by good people…I am so very very lucky!
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A well-timed compliment or nicety is about the nicest thing anyone can do for me. I can be having a crappy day and then I get a sweet email from a friend and *poof* everything is better.
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I have a group of friends who have shown me how to accept and embrace being ME, with all my quirks and faults and mistakes and regrets AND fabulousness! It has been revolutionary to figure this out and it’s definitely the most awesome sweetest thing anyone has taken the time to do for me.
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I am so happy to help out. What an awesome cause!
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Of course I’ll comment a bajillion times. Love this work.
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I’ll never forget sobbing in the backyard at my first boy-girl party because the boy I asked to dance said he had a headache and then immediately started dancing with my best friend. Another boy in my class, who I didn’t even really know, brought me tissues and said I didn’t need to cry because he would always dance with me even if no one else wanted to. Probably not THE nicest thing anyone’s ever done but not every sixth-grader gets the same reassurance after their first rejection, so that one stuck with me.
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It’s hard to pick the nicest ever, but here is something fairly recent. When my baby was born she had some complications and we needed to watch her 24 hours per day. My husband and I were stressed and exhausted. Many people helped and fed us, but at my worse moment, my sister flew into town and her and my husband arranged it so I was able to sleep for 8 hours (with just breaks to feed the baby). 🙂
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My co-workers recently threw me a surprise bridal shower and gave me cash as a present to use on my honeymoon to Panama. They know me very well.
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I’ve been sick for over a month now, and my husband has done everything for me: made all of my meals, kept me comfortable and entertained, helped me with all the things I have to do, and provided emotional support. It’s the nicest thing anyone has done for me since I became an adult.
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The nicest thing I can think that people have done for me is listen without judgment. My parents, my friends…it’s so rare to find those people who know just what you need when you need it, and sometimes all you need is to be heard.
I love this prompt Maggie. Beautiful. Can’t wait to come back and read all the comments.
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I love that this post asks us to think about the good in our lives. A few weeks ago I was grateful to the woman behind me in line at the cash register when she gave me the quarter I was frantically searching for in my diaper bag while my baby was crying on my hip. It was the end of a long day and that small gesture renewed my spirit and gave me the extra energy I needed to get through the night.
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I started a life list a few years ago and there are a few things that are on TOP of the list that I really want to accomplish. Due to many “life circumstances” I haven’t been able to save enough money to do them, but always had the positive thought in my head that “one day” I would get to do it.
I met someone randomly…. and they have made that dream a reality, without them even KNOWING me. So THIS weekend, I will be jumping out of an airplane, solo, parachuting to the earth. I am out of my mind excited…. and this is the most amazing gift from a stranger that I have ever received, and I am thankful. So so thankful.
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A planning retreat for a college group once got hugely emotional. I spent a lot of time in tears, and I’m not usually a crier. A staff member was there to facilitate, and I thought he was making the situation much worse.
He eventually left the room for us to talk amongst ourselves. An hour later, I went to the kitchen to supervise the dinner preparation. I discovered that that was where the staff member had gone when he left us to discuss. He had found the notes I had made for myself, figured out what needed to be done, and started in on cooking dinner for 30. the discovery hit me like a punch in the gut–in a good way. It made me realize that, while he and I differed on our views, his heart was in the right place, and he really did want to help and serve us.
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So many nice things over the years with difficult times — all my friends, relatives, and virtual strangers who helped us, prayed for us, and remembered us through my son’s very early birth and hospitalization, and after the death of both of my parents. Wonderful people in this here world!
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This whole project is wonderful and the “nicest thing” comments have given me some good ideas. Thanks for this! Best $40 I’ve ever made. 🙂
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The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me was hand me a piece of chocolate. It may sound trite, but at that very time I was feeling the deepest misery that I have in my entire life. A teacher of mine saw the sadness within me that everyone else missed and I could see true compassion in his eyes as he extended his hand. I will never forget that gesture of kindness, nor how important it was for me to feel cared for at that particular moment.
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When my first husband died, friends and strangers raised money that paid for some hospital bills and bought a rocker/recliner. Every time I sat in the chair to rock our 6-month-old son, I thought of all of those people. Long after the money was gone, and the chair even, I think of the kindess that helped me get through a very hard time.
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Just this past Saturday I was flying alone to visit my parents with my 5 year old and new 6 week old sons. I somehow managed to get our 2 suitcases, 2 carseats, and 2 children to the check in desk and the computer told me I couldn’t check my bags more than 4 hours before my flight. Whaaaat?! The lady behind the desk confirmed that my flight was, indeed, at 4:50pm, not 11:25am. That was what time I was departing to come back home. Whoops! Well she miraculously was able to get us on the next flight, and even waived the $260 fee it should have cost me to switch, saving us either 5 hours in our home airport or a trip all the way home and back, lugging all that stuff with us!
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There are too many nice things that have happened in my life to pick just one. I just feel fortunate and blessed to encounter such amazing people in my life.
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The nicest thing anyone has ever done is love me unconditionally. Pretty nice!
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When I was in the Marines, I broke my legs and was on bed rest for 6 weeks. In the Marines, they separate men and women so I was completely alone in a corridor. It was awful. I was also in S. Carolina while my family was in Texas. My sister surprised me by coming to visit. One of the best moments of my life.
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My sister threw me a surprise birthday party and invited all my friends, which was nice since I had gotten accustomed to not doing much to acknowledge my birthday. I’m not sure if it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me, but it’s the first thing that comes to mind.
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I am so lucky, because I have too many nice things to choose. The one that stands out to me at this moment is how, on the day of our first date, my then best friend, now boyfriend dropped off the face of the earth, only to show up at my door that evening with a bouquet of paper flowers that he had folded that day. It made me feel so special.
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When I was devastated after a break up, a friend flew up from Texas to meet me in Chicago and paid for a hotel for the weekend to take my mind off it. It gave me something to look forward to in those first dark days, which I really needed.
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After my daughter was born and my husband was back at work, I had a hard time adjusting to solo newborn care. One morning I called my sister in tears and she said, “work can wait…I’ll stop in with lattes and bounce the baby!” And she did, on many other occasions as well. Just one of the ways I am lucky!
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What a wonderful opportunity! The nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me is love me in my darkest times and on my hardest days. That’s all we ever want, right?
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It’s pretty awesome when my mom in law offers to watch my kids for a few days so my husband and I can have a break. That is NICE, because they are a handful!
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I couldn’t even begin to list the kindnesses of my parents and my sister. I am a very lucky woman.
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When my mom was in the hospital, my aunt took me out for a nice dinner at one of my favorite greek restaurants. She handed me a glass of wine and let me bitch about everything that was annoying me/ making me sad at the moment. It was a long list!
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The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me would have to be the giving me the gift of education, from my parents.
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The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me is driving 2 hours every weekend for 6 months to see me just because I was lonely.
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As a bridal shower gift many moons ago, my soon-to-be sister-in-law gave me a wonderful framed collage of pictures of my hubby as a kid. The second I opened it up and saw the first picture I turned into mush.
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Someone’s saved my life, and I can’t think of anything nicer than that.
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My husband is so patient with my craziness. Last week I was sobbing for no reason but hormones, and he just hugged me and said, “I’m really sorry it’s hard to be a girl.”
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The first thing that popped into my head…recently, the person ahead of me in the drive-thru paid for my coffee. What a nice surprise when I got up to the window to pay!
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When my husband and I got engaged a few years ago, we knew we were going to need to scrimp and save every dime to pay for our own small wedding. One day we got a very generous gift card to a fancy local restaurant in the mail from my brother- and sister-in-law with a card that just said “Go out and celebrate.” It was the first time we were able to do so without fretting over expenses and made for such a nice note of congratulations.
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When I was a broke student in New York somebody in front of me at a bridge tool booth paid for my toll. It meant I could afford a bagel for lunch that day and it made me ridiculously happy.
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Pretty much anything my parents have ever done for me, all the time, continuously, without expectation, ever.
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I have had many nice things done for me, so I just wanted to post to do my part. That was easy.
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When I graduated college, my dad put together a book of his corny sayings as a graduation gift. I still look in that book 15 years later and smile – it’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. 🙂
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The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me was to continue to reach out when I have shut down. I never learned to ask for help. I am lucky that my husband taught me to be okay with being human just by showing up.
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My parents raised me well. Better than anything else!
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My parents paid my way through college and law school, giving me the ability to work a job that I really love without having to worry about the relatively low salary – because I have no school loans to pay. Best gift ever.
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My best friend can always tell when I take extra time to look cute or when I put together a new outfit, and then she always complements me on how I look. It never fails to make my day because I know she’s sincere and that she’s paying attention.
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This is so lovely. Being that I am very lucky to surround myself by nice people, I’m always impressed and touched by the little nice things people do. Like, all the time. Nice people are awesome.
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There have been a lot of nice things done for me, but the most critical nice thing was when a friend came to my rescue when I’d been mugged in a foreign country. I ran into him at the airport and he gave me as much cash as he could so I’d be able to get a new passport and get home.
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Usually I am the one helping others, and it gives a good feeling about myself; however from time to time its nice to have something done for you. Given my situation alot of my friends cannot help my physically or financially but they are always there for me emotionally. This in itself means alot to me. Sometimes you just need to have a “bitching session” over coffee, wine, or lunch. So for those who have listened to me complain about various things..thank you for lending me an ear to yap into 🙂
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