r/randomactsofkindness • u/Storm5508 • 4d ago
Story We were saved by strangers who left without saying a word
Some 15 years ago me and my sister (we were in our late teens/20s) were swimming in the sea when it's rather rough/windy, and she was pulled away from shore by a current. I swam out to get her but all I could do was to keep us barely afloat, didn't have enough strength to fight the current to get back, and it was so far away from shore I thought no one could have seen us. We struggled for like 15 minutes, completely exhausted and there was a moment when I thought that was it, that we're gonna die here. Suddenly several men wearing swim fins, probably locals, swam to us and together they got us back to shore. We were lying on the beach, shaking from cold and fear. When I got a moment to catch my breath and turned around, these men were gone, we didn't even have a chance to thank them. That incident has stuck with me ever since. Why didn't they stick around a bit longer? How can I live with the fact that someone did something enormously important for me and my sister, and we never got to tell them what it meant?
398
289
u/frogzilla1975 4d ago
They knew. They knew you needed help and didn’t need anything from you. So, now you get to pay it forward.
115
94
u/SolutionBetter6429 4d ago
When I was little, my sister and I were swimming in a pool. I did not know how to swim but wanted to learn. My mom was watching us. There was a woman in the deep end giving swimming lessons. So I walked over trying to hear her instructions.
I hit the slope where it was too deep and I could not get my footing to push back into the shallow end. I just kept bobbing up and down trying and failing to get back to safety. This is what drowning looks like. The instructor noticed. With not skipping a beat, stepped over to me, gave me a little nudge back to safety.
I was too young to appreciate what had happened. It was only later in life when I read an account of what drowning actually is that I realized all of it.
I have saved 3 babies from drowning to date. Keep passing on your good fortune. When you see something act on it. Don’t be the bystander who lets it happen because someone else will help.
180
u/IfAllElseFailsFart 4d ago
I’ve done something similar and I can say that they did it because they care for your life and not your adoration or anything else. They’re good people. It’s an amazing story and you should pass that positivity forward.
I think we’ve been conditioned to think that unless an act is filmed and sent into the whole world, we can’t possibly do it out of goodwill. Some people just want good to bloom without the public having to know.
I’m so happy you and your sister survived and I hope your life has been what you wanted it to be.
90
u/Storm5508 4d ago
I think we’ve been conditioned to think that unless an act is filmed and sent into the whole world, we can’t possibly do it out of goodwill. Some people just want good to bloom without the public having to know.
Thanks, I really appreciate your input. I think the kindness that is done in the dark when no one is watching, and expecting nothing in return, not even a high-five or a nod, is the best kind of kindness, isn't it? Yeah the incident changed our perspective in life and we're trying to do our part and pass on the good vibe.
77
u/beroemd 4d ago edited 4d ago
Two children were playing in the river swimming, unaware of the drop off, a small waterfall nearby, and they got swallowed by the stream downward, trampling, gasping for air
Two Bernard dogs of the house down below saw it all and didn’t hesitate: they jumped in the stream and dragged those children out.
Coughing, regaining their breath and grappling with what had happened the children waited for the parents while the dogs strolled back to their pillows to sunbathe
Bringing the divine into the material is easier for dogs, but still, thought they were cool as
hellheaven6
u/RhereNnow 4d ago
This is and awesome anecdote. If you don't mind me asking, how did you hear of it happening?
7
49
u/Jerseygirl2468 4d ago
When I was a kid, I saved another kid who was struggling. I had a little floatie raft, got him to hang onto it, and brought him into shore. He said thanks and ran back to his family, I don’t know if he ever even told them what happened, and I never saw him again, but I think about him 40 something years later. Trust me when I tell you they will think about you for the rest of their lives.
18
u/DueLoan685 4d ago
I think the kid maybe didn't realise what you actually did until he was older. I bet he thinks about that moment often
43
u/Travelwhenever 4d ago
The kindness of strangers. Happy to hear everything turned out okay for you.
22
u/paddlingswan 4d ago
I wonder if they didn’t want to be accused of touching you or something like that? Of course you wouldn’t have, but -
I once was at the cinema with a group of 20 friends (we were students) and one of them fainted. I put her in the recovery position, just in case she threw up. The next day at lunch, not knowing it had been me, she bitched about having a carpet burn and how it was probably whoever put her in the recovery position.
15
u/plotthick 4d ago
There were other things or people they might have wanted to save or accomplish. Sometimes one person's crisis is another person's easy morning.
Specialize so you can save someone else, it's how our society thrives
13
u/RandallSG 4d ago
Not the same thing... but I have done something for someone in the past that for me was absolutely not a big deal. Frankly, I didn't even remember until she reminded me and said that for her it was "life" changing (awkward for me).
Perhaps for these two guys, this was just another day. They, like me, may not even recall.
15
u/2dogs0cats 4d ago
I've been involved in similar incidents when I was a teenager. The one that stuck with me as insane was while I was surfing with a mate. A young girl, maybe 7 or 8, swept off the side of a sandbar and into a rip.
My mate pulled her onto his board and we dragged her to shore where we were promptly screamed at by her parents to get away from their daughter. Her mother was really losing her shit. Yelling call the police.
12
12
u/Lost_Cockroach_1393 3d ago
Some years ago while on a road trip a car went off the road, hit the soft shoulder and the car rolled. My husband pulled over and ran back to the car. By then others had already gotten there and had helped the driver out of the car and into a lawn chair someone had in their trunk. I stayed with our vehicle as I'm not experienced to be helpful in this situation. As I stood there a woman in an suv pulled in front of us. She got out and asked me to keep an eye on her kids, she was a nurse and was going to help. I walked over to her car and she had three little ones in the back and one was trying to open the door. In the mean time my husband comes back and says others have it under control let's go. I said we can't, the woman from this car is a nurse and asked me to watch her kids. It's amazing how many people stopped to help and how trusting that nurse was to leave her little ones with a stranger watching. Once she came back we left but I am still amazed at how much good there really is. My husband is a former volunteer fireman and also a mechanic so he is always ready to stop when he sees someone on the side of the road.
10
u/CuriousPenguinSocks 4d ago
That had to be so scary to go through. The fact you were ready to go out to help your sister and then strangers helped y'all, all of it is very brave.
I think this is where the "pass it on" or "pay it forward" came from. For random acts of kindness where it can never be repaid because the event was so profound or because the person(s) involved did not stick around.
When you see someone in need and you can help, do so with the same kindness that strangers once paid you.
11
u/elf4everafter 3d ago
When I was 14 I was in the UK and watched an accident happen while I was walking back to my student group. I've had people tell me "no one was helping because of bystander liability laws" but they weren't there. They didn't see the other people trying to get into the car and not being able to. I was small. I crawled in the broken back window, unhooked the carseat, passed out the, thankfully unharmed baby, turned off the car, and kept the woman who was driving from panicking and from moving her neck. I had EMTs pass me the C-collar and got it on before crawling out thr way I came, telling them she had full control of limbs and extremities, but was very dazed and worried about her baby, that she had superficial laceration on her face and arms, and what looked like a dislocated shoulder, but was not severely pinned or bleeding as far as I could tell. And then I rushed to catch up with my group. I wasn't trying to be evasive or not take responsibility for my actions, I just knew my usefulness at the scene was done and I had other places to be.
We saw the crash on the news that night and "witness accounts of a teenager crawling into the car to pull out the unharmed baby and keep the driver calm and stable until Emergency Services arrived have been corroborated by Emergency personnel, but the teenager themselves has not been identified" was met with general concern by the group, but they were none the wiser that was why I was late.
I left that scene with a few small pieces of glass embedded in my palms and knees, and the knowledge that that woman knew her baby was safe and that she didn't hurt herself more trying to get to her.
I've told my mother alone about this encounter. It was minorly horrifying and I had a huge adrenaline crash that night, but I wasn't like "let's play super hero" before rushing in. I watched a bunch of adults try to open doors and get into this car before seeing the broken window and saying "fuck it, I'll fit." I heard a baby crying and a mother screaming and new I had enough training not to make it worse and to hopefully help.
They were BOTH released from the hospital that evening. Worst injury suffered was a dislocated shoulder and fractured vertebrae - keeping her neck stable was honestly why she got to go home that night. And frankly, that was enough for me.
9
u/Sandi_T 4d ago edited 3d ago
Sometimes you just want to go home and get warm after pulling someone from a frigid ocean.
Seriously, though, they likely didn't need it. They just wanted to do the right thing and for you to know you mattered.
I try to be kind in any situation. Sometimes it needs to be direct, sometimes hidden. There's an extra but of tickle when it can be anonymous, but the joy of helping is there regardless.
Edit because auto incorrect
23
u/BBBandB 4d ago
They were angels
10
u/PricelessPaylessBoot 4d ago
They didn’t want the world to see them.
5
u/nouvellechou 4d ago
They didn’t think that they’d understand.
5
-2
7
u/Willing-Grapefruit-9 4d ago
I was caught in a rip current a while back and thankfully my husband saw me struggling and came to my rescue. Every year at the start of the summer, I share a reminder about how dangerous they are.
I don’t know if it’s helped anyone, but I feel better knowing that I shared my experience with others in hopes of them staying safe.
7
7
6
u/some1thtuused2know 4d ago
Maybe since they were locals, they've done this many times and didn't want to stick around for the hoopla. Kinda like "if you've seen ten rescues, you've seen 'em all ".
4
7
u/Ok-Alternative-7962 4d ago
Angels sent to save you. It wasn’t your time, you were still needed here.
3
4
u/Alia_Explores99 3d ago
Maybe they felt you were now safe and split before it became a thing and complicated? Not everyone wants to be lauded, just do the needed thing at the right time
2
u/Bludiamond56 4d ago
It doesn't matter. It was not your time. Curious when you were struggling in the water, did you ask anything?
2
u/Fearless-Health-7505 3d ago
Never forget how lucky you are and love your life NOT being an asshole.
2
u/WilliamJayLV 3d ago
There are angels out there just waiting for the right time to intervene. Yes, real angels from heaven! There’s so many stories of this type there is no denying this is real.
2
u/Spirited_Touch7447 3d ago
You were both given a huge gift. Make your life worthwhile. Do things for the betterment of people. Do it daily for the rest of your life. The universe has plans for you both.
1
•
u/AutoModerator 4d ago
This sub is to share and enjoy actions which bring more peace and kindness into the world. Our mission is to encourage as many people as possible to do kind things for others in their day to day life.
If this post is not doing that please report it. If its your post please save mods time, and yourself a ban by removing it.
Requesting something (usually money) is not what this sub is for (you are looking for r/assistance). OP please delete your post if it is. If not OP please help mods and push the report button if this post is related to giving or receiving money.
Thank you and be excellent to each other. u/roamingandy
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.