Random Compliments to Strangers

Our family we have made it a tradition to compliment people who look great today. Of course we also use the spirit to help us in this endeavor to choose those who really need it.

I started this when I heard a story of a woman in a supermarket shopping who was approached by a stranger who told her she looked gorgeous. She broke down in tears and told the woman she had just saved her life. It turned out that she had been planning to go home and commit suicide.

The story impacted me so much that I decided to try it myself.

Now my 10 year old has started telling people they look great or she loves something about their appearance also. We hope we have been able to help others feel great about themselves in a just a little way.


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Wow! Isn't amazing how little things like a compliment can make so much of a difference. How lovely of your 10 year old to try it too.

best wishes, Julie.

Comments for Random Compliments to Strangers

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Jan 14, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		No need to be insincere
by: Julie

Hmmm Anonymous. I agree that an insincere compliment could be counter-productive - but I don't think that was what was meant.

It is easy to find a reason to sincerely compliment someone when you are looking to do so. Telling someone they are 'gorgeous' is probably not a great example - but thanking someone for good service, or complimenting them on a lovely jacket, is unlikely to be detrimental.

You are right that we can't always know the effects our words will have on others. But I am sure the effects of a kind word here and there will be more positive than negative.
Jan 13, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Reality is a little more complex than your
by: Anonymous

The problem with such stories is that their counterpoint is hidden and always denied by those who believe that the good is in the action not the out come. Such stories sound good (great) because no one cares to consider the obvious and potentilly more frequent opposite event where the same woman, sad but coping,says to her self: "If I look so fabulous why has my husband just left me for a younger model.....I cant deal with the madness of this world!?"

Such people dont often say, "Thanks for confirming and exacerbating my sense of futility and confusion, I think I will run home and kill myself!" They just quietly do it and your unaware of your role.

An insincere complement is just one more deception in a dishonest world

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