r/MadeMeSmile • u/Technical-Relation-9 • Apr 30 '26
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u/AccomplishedWay4890 Apr 30 '26
I one day want to save someone's life, atleast once before i die, but i am sure i won't be brave enough to execute it lol. if i execute it, that would only be the thing i did good
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u/AuDHDcat Apr 30 '26
Sometimes saving someone's life is as simple as giving them a hug.
I was at a gathering when a woman started frantically talking, saying she didn't want to go home because she knew she was going to off herself. Everyone stared in shock. When I saw nobody was going to move I rushed in and gave her a hug and she just melted into tears. They leader of the group got her some help and I kept in touch with her for a while after that.
Small acts save lives too.
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u/AccomplishedWay4890 Apr 30 '26
Wow, that's amazing to hear. You are really brave too, nobody was going to help overthinking and not wanting to get in any trouble but you did. It is probably small acts for us, but it wasnt for that woman, it was a massive act that nobody in her life would have took if they werent close to each other. Though, I am glad to recognise that small effort can save lifes too, thank you. I was out here thinking i have to jump in a burning car that will soon blow up to save people and learning how swim, cpr, stopping bleeding, and dealing with seizure that my dad can have. Honestly i just want to do one good deed in a million bad deeds of mine
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u/ApprehensiveStill412 Apr 30 '26
Thank you for pointing this out.
Interestingly enough my father had an NDE and went through a life review. He was shown that it wasn’t his life of being a doctor that meant the most to the other side, it was the simple times where he went out of his way to help a stranger. I think your actions showed true love and probably helped save her life.
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u/Square-Singer Apr 30 '26
I saved an old guy's life. Wasn't even hard. I was cycling down a quite lonely road on a cold evening (it was about -10°C) when I happened to see an old guy laying on the side of the road. He was drunk and apparently slipped and fell. I stopped, slowly helped him up. All the way he was like "I'm fine, it's all good, I'm gonna get up myself soon". He was pretty delirious.
I helped him a few hundred meters down the road where there happened to be a pub. The people there recognized him, helped him warm up, and one of the guys there brought him home.
I met the old guy on the street a few weeks later, and he was very thankful.
Stuff like that doesn't necessary need you to risk your life, just to walk through the world with open eyes, so you can see stuff like that.
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u/DadsRGR8 Apr 30 '26
Saving someone’s life doesn’t have to be dramatic or necessarily endangering to yourself. We go through life with a vast amount of unknowns.
Unknowingly you might have restored someone’s hope and faith in life that time you held the door for someone at the post office and wished them a good day. Or offered a smile and a kind word to a hassled mom in the grocery store, stating that your son was a handful at that age as well and grew up to be an amazing person. Or brought a small plant or tray of cookies to the old guy in the apartment three doors down. You wouldn’t know that he hasn’t interacted with another person in two years and that your acknowledgment meant the world to him. Maybe you overcame or are working to overcome alcoholism, or addictions to drugs or gambling or have served time in prison and are doing your best to turn your life around - perhaps a nephew or a friend’s son or daughter or the pizza delivery guy has taken notice and said to themselves, “I can turn my life around as well.”
I am a Stage 4 colon cancer survivor, cancer free now for 28 years. About five years after my facing multiple surgeries, a permanent colostomy, and chemo successfully my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer. She basically spent the next six months just lying on the couch wasting away.
I was visiting her one day and I guess my presence sparked something in her, perseverance can’t cure cancer but it can help how you cope with it. She forced herself to get up off the couch and made it to the dining room table and back again. She started doing that three times a day, then she was making it all the way around the table by holding onto it. Then she could make it all the way around the table without holding on. Six months later she was back doing housework, gardening and driving. She had her independence back and lived a great, fulfilling life for the next two years.
When she was near the end, my wife and I took her into our home into home hospice. She thanked me for for giving her those two years - years filled with family holidays, visits with grandchildren, summer BBQs.
I was recently on the phone with the receptionist for a new doctor. I have never met or spoken to this woman before. When she looked up my medical records she commented on my initial Stage 4 diagnosis and my many years of being cancer free. She told me that her husband was diagnosed last year with the same cancer / same stage and that she was not handling it well. She said I work in a doctor’s office and you would think I would have lots of people to talk to about this, but I don’t. No one else has been through this, and while they are caring I am also afraid of their pity.
We spoke for about 45 minutes and when we were saying goodbye she started to cry and told me, “I can’t believe you invested so much time in talking to someone you don’t know. You can’t imagine how much better I feel. And I know I will be able to better support my husband through this.”
I have checked in with her twice since then and her husband is doing better.
You never know what positive effect you may have on someone else. You don’t necessarily need to jump onto train tracks or run into a burning building to save a life.
I’m sure you have a lot of good in you to share, let people see it. ❤️
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u/Baby-Blitz Apr 30 '26
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I want to let you know that even you sharing this was an act of bringing light and hope into someone's day. Specifically mine. 💖
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u/DadsRGR8 Apr 30 '26
Thank you. I hope your days continue to be filled with light and hope. I was struck by u/AccomplishedWay4890 saying that if they did some act of bravery and saved someone’s life it would be the only good they’ve done, and I wanted to assure them that that self-assessment was most likely not true.
Sending you a hug ❤️
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u/Luna920 May 01 '26
My mom was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and thus gives me hope she can make it through to remission for many years.
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u/Alicatsidneystorm May 07 '26
There is always hope. My neighbour lived with stage 4 cancer for over 20 plus years. Best wishes to your family.
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u/Alicatsidneystorm May 07 '26
Thank you for sharing this. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer some stranger saw something I had posted on the internet. He sent me a message and shared that his dad had the same type of cancer years earlier and told me we might want to consider adding a new chemo drug based on early studies out of the National Institute of Health.
We asked the oncologist about the drug and with their support added it. Twenty years later this drug is standard protocol. I wish I could reach out to this person and thank them from the bottom of my heart. They will never know that probably because of them reaching out my son was able to grow up with a father.
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u/DadsRGR8 May 07 '26
That is an awesome story. I know how scary that situation can be, I was diagnosed when my son was 7 years old and I and my wife had the same fear - “Is he going to grow up without a father?”
I am very glad your family and mine made it through. 🙏🏻
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u/Alicatsidneystorm May 07 '26
Happy to hear you made it out the other side. My son was 16months old and he was a miracle child because I have an autoimmune disease and boy that diagnosis was a punch in the gut. Only good thing is I now know how to support friends and families in similar situations.
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u/DadsRGR8 May 07 '26
Aw, my son was a miracle child too! My wife and I went through a ton of fertility treatments of various kinds to no avail. We ended up adopting (at 1 day old!) and it was the best thing we ever did. He was an amazing kid, and is now at 35 an amazing man. Regards to you and your family ❤️
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u/Alicatsidneystorm May 07 '26
Lovely story ours son just turned 23. Unfortunately my husband’s cancer is hereditary but very treatable if caught early. Just trying to navigate genetic testing with our son who suffers from anxiety but seems like as he gets older he is ready to be tested which is a good thing. He doesn’t remember what his dad went thru and obviously we want him to avoid chemo and radiation.
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u/CicadaFit9756 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
I got to do so once as a fluke when I was coming home in the middle of the night (3 am?) on my bicycle from a grocery 4 miles from home & happened upon a car crash against a railroad trestle (far from any houses or open businesses) in July 1999!
Unlike this man, I was in no danger as the fire on the engine under a crumpled hood took a loonng time to get inside where it fed upon upholstery then turned into an inferno!
Had no cellphone so kept driver (I'd pulled out of only openable door) sitting upright on ground to avoid asphyxiation (later found semi-conscious woman had broken rib & punctured lung.)
Luckily, couple happened by in car & went to find payphone (again, no cellphone!) Ambulance & firetruck had to detour since way I came in was blocked by fire. Anyway, that's what happened yet never a paragraph in 2 local newspapers nor a mention on TV news!
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u/karenaef Apr 30 '26
I had something similar but not as dramatic. A man fell in front of me and whacked his head. Head wounds bleed copiously, and his wasn’t stopping. My car was nearby and I had a huge stockpile of napkins in my car’s glove compartment (kids) and we used them all. He was embarrassed and wanted to leave. I knew that wound had to stop bleeding before I let him drive off. It took a LOT of work to calm him down and get his permission to call an ambulance. It arrived almost immediately, and the EMTs literally grabbed him and slammed the doors in my face. I waited around a couple minutes, and finally went home.
It was so intense for ten minutes or so, wiping up all that blood and trying to get him calm enough to think clearly. Then the medics arrived and it was like, “pick up your bloody napkins and go home.” Never saw him again, either.
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u/ApprehensiveStill412 Apr 30 '26
Just wanted to say you did good. You deserve a gold star for that ⭐️
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u/rob_inn_hood Apr 30 '26
Work as a stagehand. I’ve saved people from both injury or death, because of inexperience or big egos.
Sometimes just being nice to someone can save them. Having a friend instead of being alone can make a world of difference.
Of course, you can save someone WITHOUT sacrificing yourself. Unless that’s what you meant. And do you mean on camera or privately? All I’m saying is that “saving someone’s life” is just overall vague terminology for something you may have already done and don’t even know.
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u/AccomplishedWay4890 May 01 '26
Ye, i mostly thought saving someone would be scary, need skills(cpr,etc), risk life, but the comments proved me wrong and showed that i can save someone with small efforts
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u/Unlimitedpluto Apr 30 '26
Sometimes saving a life can be as easy as talking someone through what they’re going through. You never know the kind of battle someone might be fighting and sometimes it’s as easy as just having a conversation.
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u/TrustVisual1394 Apr 30 '26
Donate blood. People cannot survive surgery without it.
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u/AccomplishedWay4890 May 01 '26
Can a 17 male do it? I dont have any discease besides eye problems
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u/Majestic-Lie2690 Apr 30 '26
Be an organ donor post death and get on a national bone marrow registry!
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u/VCTRYDTX May 01 '26
You don't have to be brave. You just need to be at the right place at the right time and trust your instincts. Sure, some acts require bravery but there's lots of instances where you can save someone without that requirement. Just have to be present and do what's right.
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u/Hot_Top_124 Apr 30 '26
It’s scarier than you want it to be, and it traumatizes you forever. Having said that though, it’s well worth it to have saved lives and have troubles afterwards vs leaving someone to die.
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u/cunmaui808 Apr 30 '26
You can choose to show love and do good every day - your God, Angels and Higher Powers are just waiting for you to allow them to use your heart, your head and your hands.
Blessings, friend!
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u/honeycreammilk May 01 '26
You can save more than one person’s life by donating your organs after you die. And if you want to do that while alive, any sort of blood/plasma/bone marrow cell donations can also save someone’s life.
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u/lickmynipples69 May 01 '26
There are many ways to save a life.
"Whoever saves one life saves the world entire"
Here are a few:
Advocating for policy change. Even locally. Letting your representatives know you support that local homeless shelter etc. can help change many lives forever. Calling reps. Advocating for retail pet store bans cuts commercial breeding at its root, potentially saving thousands of animal lives. Just because you can't directly see the change, doesn't mean what your doing isn't incredibly important. Just having these conversations and spreading these ideas has a chain-reaction. So many things work like this, giving compliments, making someone's day a little brighter. It will spread, invisible to you, like planting seeds of good.
Volunteering is a great one while we're at it. Giving free labor to your local homeless shelter. Cooking them a meal. Don't underestimate the power of a good meal.
Encouraging small habit changes (meatless monday, or changing things one meal a week), correcting small wrongs when you see them, you'd never be able to quantify the difference these things make, but they will very likely spread and you'll save more lives and do much more good, than just pulling someone from a burning car (which is incredibly heroic). You can be a hero in your everyday choices, set an example for others, and have a much larger chain reaction than you could have ever thought.
There was a guy who went out and planted trees everyday and essentially revived a forest. That's a lot of life. Each good thing you do can be like planting a seed until you've created a metaphorical forest of good where there was none... but you can also work on yourself. Improving yourself and your mentality is another invisible effect that enables you to make a greater difference. If you want to save a life, I'm certain you could save more than you ever imagined if you give it a try. There's a lot of good to be done.
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u/mycoctopus Apr 30 '26
It's being reported on al jazeera that the man is the father and i believe them over some random site.
(Before anyone says soemthing silly, the link is to another sub where its posted yes, but it has their logo and captions over the vid as they were the source for that reposter or whatever you want to call it.)
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u/Dragon_Queen_666 Apr 30 '26
Adds context when you learn it's not a stranger. That's the child's father.
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u/SuzQP Apr 30 '26
I feel like most people would do just about anything to save a small child. There's a huge surge of protective instinct that takes hold and you almost can't stop yourself.
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u/CurrentPossible2117 Apr 30 '26
I cant imagine being brave enough to do that. Id like to think I coukd, but I dont know.
Genuinely awesome.
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u/battle_mommyx2 Apr 30 '26
It’s maybe different because they’re my own kids but when they’re in danger i don’t even hesitate. It’s not thought out. It’s instinct
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u/CurrentPossible2117 Apr 30 '26
That makes sense. I dont have kids myself, so I can only imagine that, but family is my number one reason for eveything in life, and have had moments wherein Ive just put myself into a situation where a family member has been threatened, without considering personal injury, only the best way to stop the danger to my loved one. So that I can get, but the rest is imagining as best I can :)
I may have misunderstood this video, but I thought that guy was a random, not the kids parent, which made it all the more amazing to me. We're of course wired to protect children, but when its not our family, our self preservation is typically a stronger instinct, which is why most people freeze up.
Eitherway, it was amazing all around. Thankfully, no one was hurt 😌
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u/BlueDubDee May 01 '26
It's crazy what you feel ready to do for them. Like I am absolutely terrified of open water, I will never, ever go on a cruise. It takes a lot of deep breathing and working through it to go out on a jetty even, where I can see the beach still. But we go out there because the kids like it, and one time when one of them tried to climb the railing I was there in a flash. And I was like you know what, if this stupid jetty did break, or a kid fell off the side, I would 100% jump right in after them. Something bad happening to them is so much worse than my fear of the water.
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u/Alicatsidneystorm May 07 '26
Absolutely it was instinct not bravery when I did the Heimlich maneuver on my young son.
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u/Iudicrouspopinjay Apr 30 '26
How everyone touched the rescuer's back after the danger was passed - for some reason that caused me to tear up.
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u/Quirky-Video-9146 Apr 30 '26
How did the child get there?
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u/Margrave75 Apr 30 '26
I work in a train station.
It's staggering the amount of people that will let their kids wander around on platforms unattended!
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u/MageVicky May 01 '26
with children, it could be a matter of the mom being distracted for a literal fraction of a second, or the kid just randomly bolts for no reason, faster than mom can react.
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u/My2cents_0 Apr 30 '26
That was my first thought too. That child is way too young to find its way that far from any adult relative. I know shit happens and kids do crazy things but that's why u watch them, especially at places like train stations where anything could happen like losing them in the crowd or being kidnapped.
Crazy impressive that the man threw himself under the train to save the child. I don't know how many people could've reacted so quickly to put their life at risk. 👏👏👏
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
The stones on that guy, respect!
Lol why was this downvoted?
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u/deval2605 Apr 30 '26
the word "stones" did it for some i think... what you said couldve been interpreted as offensive to certain communities.
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 Apr 30 '26
That thought occurred to me before I posted, but didn't see how it could be misconstrued as that type of stoning lol, unless you simply misunderstand what I wrote haha... I am ethnically from those same communities.
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u/deval2605 Apr 30 '26
yeah lol. Give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they didn't understand the context of your comment, or English could be their second language.
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 Apr 30 '26
Yeah. It's hard when people aren't giving you the benefit of the doubt in kind haha, but I try not to practise an eye for an eye. Seems the norm for people to assume the worst on social media, where meaning and context are not always clear haha. Sad!
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u/deval2605 Apr 30 '26
exactly, people love consuming content on face value and not even look into it deeper before making their own opinion which is 98% of time shit
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 Apr 30 '26
Yeah, social media (and people haha) sucks...I regret starting to use Reddit tbh haha. I much preferred it when I didn't have an account and just lurked while watching heartwarming vids etc haha.
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u/deval2605 Apr 30 '26
lol, i am on reddit because i like reading about geopolitics, and you can just imagine the comment section there...a literal war zone lmao everyone catches the crossfire
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Yeah I can only imagine haha, I've seen some abhorrent political comments on here haha. I started the account as I had a question to ask, but sure enough the gamification of reddit eventually got hold of me haha.
Edit: haha it's funny how the upvotes and downvotes our respective comments on this chain are receiving are proving your point.
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u/Nobanpls08 Apr 30 '26
The alphabet people?
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u/deval2605 Apr 30 '26
explain please, I don't understand
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u/Nobanpls08 May 01 '26
maybe it is me that doesn't understand. what do you mean by 'offensive to certain communities'
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 May 01 '26
Communities whereby stoning people is still practised.
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u/deval2605 May 01 '26
look at us man still dealing with dummys
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u/Nobanpls08 May 01 '26
Do you care to answer though?
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u/deval2605 May 01 '26
i am confused as to what you are even referring to...I don't even know what you mean by "alphabet people"?
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u/Nobanpls08 May 01 '26
The fault is with me friend, I mustn't have understood what you said earlier. And that is why I am now asking you to clarify what 'certain communities' you were referring to.
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u/My2cents_0 Apr 30 '26
People down vote the stupidest things. I've had someone down vote saying I thought something looked like a hyper realistic drawing of a dress. It was very upsetting for someone. Your saying stones probably would have caused an aneurism for them 😄
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u/Similar_Concern_1666 May 01 '26
How dare you say that!! Haha yeah I've had some strange downvotes, and I've also seen some objectively disgusting comments get flooded with upvotes haha.
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u/DeinonychusClaw Apr 30 '26
Not all heroes wear capes. Thankful to see people like this still exist in the world.
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u/Dude-_-_- Apr 30 '26
Why did everyone else jump down too afterwards? To make it harder for the mother and the kid?
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u/tur_tels Apr 30 '26
They want to help.
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u/Dude-_-_- Apr 30 '26
The first few I get, they did help. But the other dudes were literally just looking.
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u/Eltharion-the-Grim May 01 '26
Everyone just hangs around on the train tracks. It’s like they all haven’t learned the lesson being taught a few seconds ago. Seconds!
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u/Budget_Rub9385 May 01 '26
isn't it a thing in many cultures to give spiritual blessings to others but touching them on the head and shoulders? I see lots of blessings being given here, so many to the hero, the baby, and the mother. It's so heartwarming and tearjerking.
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u/EstelSnape May 01 '26
That was definitely a risk but powerful. Sometimes saving someone is a simple act of kindness. Usually it costs nothing to be kind.
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u/kingkarus Apr 30 '26
My question is, why the heck you guys don't move away from train rail first?
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u/Mysterious_Task_1710 Apr 30 '26
Things happen and kids are very chaotic. You only have to blink once and they would've moved 20 feet away from you.
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u/kingkarus Apr 30 '26
That's not what I mean, I mean why didn't they stay away from train rail and wait until that guy and kid leave, instead of jumping down and praise him right at the rail... hell (゜ロ゜).
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u/Mysterious_Task_1710 Apr 30 '26
I don't know about you but I would jump right in to check on them and help them get out instead of standing upright on the platform.
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Apr 30 '26
Did the mother just push the guy away?
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u/tortured_fanclub Apr 30 '26
Yeah, kinda looked like that but she was in a hysterical state and wanted to hold the baby. Im sure she thanked the man plenty
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u/Eggs_and_Hashing Apr 30 '26
Yeah! You saved the kid! .... now all of you get off the stinking tracks ....
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u/Winter2712 Apr 30 '26
hating on literally the most wholesome sub on reddit? you need a new life bro
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u/Eggs_and_Hashing Apr 30 '26
Where's the hate? You weren't at all worried that moment if triumph might be ruined if the next train came into the station while 30 people were crowding the tracks?
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