“You’re stronger than you think.”

I cried—not from sadness, but because someone believed in me when I was struggling to believe in myself. Years later, I told my mother about the note. She smiled and said something I’ll never forget. The woman, she explained, was a neighbor she had once helped when no one else would. “Looks like she remembered,” my mom said.

That moment taught me a lasting lesson: kindness is never wasted. It may take years to return, but it always finds its way back. Sometimes, it comes quietly—exactly when someone needs it most.