The Best Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Me

This Christmas, instead of cluttering the homes of your loved ones with items they might not want or need, why not consider doing something nice for them instead? To give you some ideas, we’ve compiled a list of the best things our interviewees have ever had done for them and—surprise, surprise: only one of these cost money!

Q: What is the most helpful thing anyone has ever done for you?

Kelvin Seah, who is a stay-at-home dad:
Too many to single out just any, but the numerous occasions in the past when friends/family took the effort and time to spend on/with me, e.g. a kind word, a shoulder to cry on, etc, certainly comes to mind.

Dr. Y, who did poorly all through school but ended up as a dentist with his own practice:
Be a good listener in the middle of my family troubles without making judgements.

Yen-Lu Chow, who lost his son to suicide:
They listen to you deeply—and they are there for you when you need them most.

Derek Seong, who lost a mum abruptly to illness:
My wife giving me twins.

Evelyn Eng-Lim, who built her own retirement farm:
My brother’s friend who came to my aid at a Hong Kong hospital to look after my seriously ill brother. This allowed me to return to Singapore for a week to be with my husband. 

Jeshua Soh, who dropped out of school, started a business at age 19 and started another business in Myanmar:
Let me stay in their house and bring me around their city.

Christine Yong, who got the perfect score of 45 at the IB exams:
Mutual quizzing and collaborative note-making before a big examination.

Dreaming Asa, who cosplays girl characters despite identifying as male:
Helping me to spot mistakes whenever I dress up. Things like messy hair or a crumpled shirt.

Elizabeth Seah, who has been cosplaying for 24 years:
Helping me out when my hands are full or when I’m in a big costume. It’s so hard to move around sometimes! It may mean little, but it means so much to me~ I really appreciate those little acts of kindness given.

Nur Syahidah Alim, who is a world champion in archery:
As the archery range does not have storage facilities, I usually have to call for a Grab to travel from my home to the venue and back. One time, a Grab driver offered his help to carry my heavy equipment to my doorstep. I greatly appreciated his kind gesture.

Juliana, who made it through 4 years of topical steroid withdrawal:
Accept me for who I am when I wasn’t able to accept myself. That gave me something to hold on to.

Hui Ling, who won a Young Artist Award:
Allowing me the space to understand how to be me, and thus how I can be a useful person in my existence.

Kamil Haque, Acting Instructor and Founder of the Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity:
Allowed me the space to fail and gave me the permission and the skills to get up and try again and better.

Gwern Khoo, who is a Michelin Bib Gourmand certified hawker:
Being able to trust and count on my group of close friends.

Pranoti Nagarkar, who invented the Rotimatic:
I think the support system I have from my family and the people around, like friends and family. Most helpful would be, right now, helping me through the early weeks of having a newborn baby. My mum was here, she was with me the whole time—that was really helpful. I wouldn’t have been able to go through it without her. Violet too, who is our helper.

For Zimplistic… Helpful is somebody who does it without any greed or expectation of output, right? So from that point of view, I think there have been many people who have come along the way and given us advice at the right time or connected us to the right people and there have been many so they’re very hard to name.

Jack Chua, who started a video production business with $10,000:
My father’s quiet support of me. He has never been one to complain about my business or look down on it. In fact, it is a source of pride that I am doing something that I like yet able to provide for my family.

Petrina Ng, who quit her 14-year teaching career to become a wedding photographer:
Recently, a really good friend-mentor of mine (when I was teaching) apologised to me because she said that it probably broke me when I started leading a department due to her recommendations. On the contrary, I think it pushed me to my potential and I realised how much I could really do and I began to reflect more and understand myself better. So I think that was one of the most helpful things anyone has done for me.

Sheeba Majmudar, who has been a nutritionist for 12 years:
Taught me how to fish instead of just feeding me fish.

Russell Pensyl, who is an interactive media artist:
One of my teachers encouraged me to keep pushing the work even if I destroyed the piece. Then he forced me to recreate the project to solve the problems I created.

Loh Teck Yong, who is a security guard and author:
My father gave me a huge portion of the money I needed to self-publish my book.

Rishi Israni, who married and built a million-dollar business with the inventor of the Rotimatic:
Recommended a book. Many books. One is called ‘The Untethered Soul’. And once a random stranger sat beside me and said–I don’t even remember the context–lack of confidence is not justified. And it just stuck in my head.

Daphne Chua, who quadrupled the number of friends in her life in a single decade and is a prison minister:
To pray for my needs and to show genuine concern and care.

Liew Tong Leng, who won over 200 photography contests before age 50:
Being my mentor in photography.

HT, who made and sells Spiderman web shooters:
Told me to aim higher.

Sy, who founded LUCK-IT and interviewed all the above people:
Welcomed me into their home and shared their minds and wisdom with me.

Wing*, who was once a Hong Kong protester:
Can’t remember.

What is the most helpful thing anyone has ever done for YOU? Share your answer in the comment box below and we’ll add it to this list!

Photographs courtesy and copyright of those featured. Interviewer: Sy
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