Acts of Kindness while Abroad: McCrindle Research

8/2/2019 Acts of Kindness while Abroad: McCrindle Research

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3. Acts of Kindness while Abroad

Marian Arnold, Producer/Presenter,

ABC Classic FM

My Knight in Black and White

I was very young, travelling in Europe alone. I arrived in Athens

by bus late one night and got up the next day ull o anticipation.

But some time ater I let my hostel, I became aware that I was



the man rom the premises but pre-empting every attempt he

made to re-enter, and allowing me to stay there un-harassed or as

long as I needed.I sat there or several hours, stretching out my Greek coees

until it was apparent that there would be no urther reappearance

rom this man. I was so grateul to this kind waiter, who spoke

very little English, and who simply brushed aside my thanks witha big smile. And ater that I was able to go and visit the Acropolis

in peace.

d

Marian Arnold has been playing music on ABC Classic FM’s listener requests program or fteen years.



Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Author, Brisbane QLD

Kindness is Contagious

I was in my twenties and travelling alone through

the UK. Wanting to be able to reach locations

that were o the public transport map, I bought

an ancient bomb o a car, drove it around or

three months and sold it beore I returned to

Australia. Te car cost most o my money, so

I lived mainly on porridge during that trip, it being cheap and

lling. In Ireland, my Youth Hostels Association passbook was

l d bl h d ld bl



hear o letting me get away with just that! I was whisked indoors,

seated at the breakast table with the amily, looked ater and

given a delicious breakast, as much as I could eat. It was bliss toeat something other than porridge! I ended up being the best o

riends with the whole amily. Oh, and they lled my thermos

beore I let …

Tat was only one o many acts o kindness strangers showedme when I was travelling alone in oreign regions. One London

businessman rushing to work, seeing me struggling, oered to

haul my ridiculously heavy suitcase up several ights o stairs in

the Underground. Ater he’d done so, with a smile and a wave, he

vanished into the crowd.

Kindness gets passed on, and or good reason – because it

makes us eel happy. I acquired quite a rosy glow the other day

when I was able to point out a rare parking spot to a young

h h d b d d h l k l k



Tim Fischer AC, Former Deputy Prime Minister and

Ambassador to the Holy See

Kindness of a Train-travelling Stranger: All at Sea near the Holy See

Ater a ew weeks as the new Australian

Ambassador to the Holy See based in

Rome, I needed to escape the crowded and

congested but vibrant city o Rome and get

some resh air. So one Saturday morning

in early spring 2009, with the sun shining



English. As we were walked across the tracks and eventually

delivered to Ciampino Station, utter conusion reigned. In the

course o changing trains I was beriended by a young Caliornianstudent who had more Italian knowledge than me. Alas, we ound

the V monitors at Ciampino Station conveyed zero inormation

with regard to how to get to Castel Gandolo ater the previous

train had broken down. However, the Caliornian went back tobasics and established which was the regular platorm or trains

to Castel Gandolo. He then advised me that we should move to

this platorm. Eventually a train arrived, unannounced, but the

new conductor conrmed in the strongest terms possible that this

train was indeed bound or Castel Gandolo.

It was a case o “All aboard” again, and within hal an hour

we were through a tunnel and looking out on the magnicent

crater-lake, along with the Pope’s summer palace, and celebrating



all else, the exchange o inormation when inevitably trains are in

breakdown mode.

d

im Fischer AC is a ormer politician who retired romParliament in 2001. Tim served as Deputy Prime Minister inthe Howard Government rom 1996 until returning to Cabinet

in 1999. He is also the author o our books.



Amanda McLeay, Weather Presenter,

Channel 10 Brisbane

Our Oral Angel

I’ve always loved the sound o the Italian

language. Its expression, its passion, its romance.

And how I wished I’d learnt it – needing urgent

assistance in an unamiliar land, when you don’t speak the language, can prove a great challenge.

Trow in an extreme toothache and two weary

adventurers with no knowledge o the health



a poor attempt to act out a tooth inection and nd some medical

assistance.

We were just giving up, wondering what to do, when a manappeared out o nowhere and uttered our magical words: “You

need a dentist?” We sure did! And we were in luck – his best riend

was the town’s most reputable tooth doctor, and would see us

without delay. Our Oral Angel not only made the appointment,he insisted on driving us to it, then shuttling us to the armacia to

stock up on medication as well.

I it wasn’t or his generosity o time and spirit, we would have

been in all sorts o trouble. We certainly wouldn’t have been able

to savour the culture and colour o such a magnicent town. We

wouldn’t have been able to taste the best seaood Sicily has to oer

at the local markets. Or soak up the history during our relaxing

sunset strolls.



Shane Stuart Ellis, Lawyer and Executive Director of

Equity Protect Business

Giving Gives Back

I truly believe that there are a lot o magical

messages and insights portrayed in many

Hollywood movies that we can all learn rom.

I love the part o the movie Evan Almighty

where God, played by Morgan Freeman,

turns to the very Moses-like Evan Almighty,

played by Steve Carroll, and says to him,



7-Eleven type o store. I was standing at the checkout with a cool

drink. In ront o me in the checkout line was a little Arican

French boy with the amily groceries on the counter and a smallice cream.

He had paid or the groceries or the amily’s evening meal

and was pushing the coins rom the change around in his hand in

a rantic way to get them to add up to enough money to be ableto aord the ice cream treat. His parents must have told him that

i there was enough change he could buy himsel a treat. I oten

used to have the same types o trips to the corner store or my

amily when I was a kid. Anyway, it was clear that he didn’t have

enough money or the ice cream. I looked at the checkout lady

and said to her in English that I would pay or it. Te little boy

had no idea what I said and looked at me and then at the check-

out lady who smiled and explained to him in French what was



Every day I watch out in lie or where I can help someone.

Letting people into lines o trafc, or talking to older people who

look lonely, or wherever an ARK opportunity may arise. When Ispeak to students in the senior years o high school in my lectures

I tell them my story o Evan Almighty and then about the little

French boy. I then invite them to look towards applying the ARK

principle every day in their lives, noting what a great place our world would be i we all took the time to do so.

How about you? Why not seek out your opportunity or an

Act o Random Kindness each day and see how it changes your

lie, let alone those who receive your little gits.

Enjoy!



Justine Davies, Columnist for The Australian

Sometimes it’s the Smallest, Trivial Things that Stick in

the Mind …

For proessional reasons I spend a air

amount o time in news processing:

reading, surng the net, watching the

evening bulletins. And sometimes when

the news is bad it would be easy to believe

that the world is a selsh, uncaring place.

Yet when I walk my kids to school and



And there are plenty o examples urther aeld, o course.

Despite their renetic pace o lie, New York and okyo are two o

the most amazingly riendly and courteous places that I have everexperienced. It was on a plane ight a ew years ago between these

two cities that I experienced a random act o kindness which I will

always be grateul or.

My husband and I were at the tail end o a three-week holiday in the USA and about to head to Japan or a week. We had taken

our two small daughters, aged two and a hal and nine months

respectively, with us. Our rst overseas experience as parents.

Anyone who has travelled with small children will know that it is

an amazing, exhilarating – but extremely exhausting – experience!

By the time we reached John F Kennedy International Airport

or our late-evening ight rom New York to okyo I was – well –

it’s air to say that I was running on reserve energy. Beyond tired.



I realised that we had lucked out in terms o the bulkhead – it

wasn’t to be! Instead, we were in a cramped middle row with seats

in ront and behind, and I was looking at the prospect o tryingto nurse (and restrain rom crawling around the cabin oor) my

wriggly, so-not-tired nine-month-old or the next twelve hours.

Tere was no chance o moving – the ight was packed. I know

that it sounds trivial, but i I had just nished a marathon andsomeone told me to run another one straight away I couldn’t have

been more crushed.

Still, we settled in and tried to get comortable. Ten there was

a tap on my shoulder. “Excuse me Ma’am,” said a pleasant-looking

man. “Would you like to exchange seats with us?” He gestured to

where his wie and young daughter were sitting – urther towards

the ront o the plane – in a bulkhead row. “Our daughter is eight,

she can amuse hersel quite happily on the ight,” he continued.



kindness that stick in the mind. Whenever I think about that

lovely couple it brightens my day.

d

Justine Davies is a fnance writer, blogger and author o How to Aord a Baby , How to Aord a Husband and An

Inconceivable Notion. Justine writes a weekly fnance column

or the News Limited papers, is the money expert or Women’sHealth magazine , Practical Parenting magazine and Body+Soul,and has long-running blogs on “Essential Baby” and “News.com.au”.

www.justinedavies.com/



Emma Ayres, Presenter, ABC Classic FM

Pyjamas in Iran

It had been a long day. I was in the middle o

a what you might call an adventurous, maybe

idiotic, solo bike ride rom England to Hong

Kong, and had spent a hot day cycling about

150 kilometres rom Yazd, in central Iran, toa tiny little town with one tiny little hotel. A

tiny little hotel where I planned to stay the

night.



No. 3 – cry

No. 4 – go to a mosque and rely on amous Muslim hospitality

No. 5 – call my mum

Out o these, I elt that really only numbers 1 and 4 were

sensible options. Just as I was mulling them over, a handsome

bearded man with a deranged-looking small boy came over to me

and said in halting English, “You need sleep?”I certainly did. Sleep, a lot o ood and indeed a beer wouldn’t

have gone astray, however I stuck with the sleep thing and said

“Yes please!” And so it was that I ollowed the man on my bicycle,

him driving his Hillman Hunter, to his home in this tiny town inthe middle o Iran. Nobody knew where I was, nobody knew me

there and I could only trust my instincts.

Te man was a primary school teacher; he and his wie had

just this one terriying-looking child, but they had many cousins,



d

Emma Ayres has been the presenter o Classic Breakast at ABC

Classic FM since 2008, but began working there in 2004.Beore working in radio she was a proessional viola player or twelve years, studying at London’s Royal Academy with members o the Amadeus Quartet and later working or the Hong Kong

Philharmonic Orchestra.



4. Acts of Kindness in the

Formative Years

Morris Iemma, Former Premier of NSW

Goodness is All Around Us

I’ve got rich memories o some special people who were there

when I needed them as a child and a teenager, and I’m proud to

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Acts of Kindness while Abroad: McCrindle Research