Every once in a while, there comes a story that is so pure and wholesome that it can give you back a good portion of faith in humanity’s goodness. This is one of those stories, and it comes straight from TikTok.
For a change, we have to thank the Internet for making a story go viral, for attracting netizens’ attention and getting them to act, as it united strangers connected by a single voicemail and showed many others the power that can be held within a simple act of kindness.
Helene, the TikToker who started the viral hashtag, was taking an exam that week. Like so many of us who have gone through an academic trial by fire, she was an anxious mess about it. So, to help ease her nerves, her sister sent her a voicemail she had gotten about 5 years back when it had been her time to take the exam. The voicemail was from Tameka, a woman who worked at a standardized testing center around 2019. And Tameka offered the sister, and Helene unwittingly, the pep talk they both needed at the right time.
For this reason, Helene posted the voicemail on a TikTok video so TikTok could work its magic. She hoped netizens would help her find the compassionate lady who’d done so much for the two of them with such a simple gesture.
Tameka was found and she’s now expanding her network of kindness and empowerment
TikTok did work its magic. Not long after posting the video on the platform, it exploded with views, and Helene got results. They had found Tameka. In another TikTok Helene explained how they had found her, Tameka had called her, and the two spoke on the phone for 10 minutes. Helene posteriorly uploaded the recording of their conversation – with Tameka’s consent, of course.
In a way that shows how acts of kindness can go a long way and help you and others live in a more kindhearted world, Helene ended up empowering Tameka to start her own TikTok and talk to people. She’d always wanted to but hadn’t known how to go about it. They ended up helping each other in meaningful ways that visibly moved netizens. After the phone call, Tameka was able to read all the nice comments, which further proved how her seemingly small act of goodness touched so many and meant more than she could have realized at first.
“TAMEKA NEEDS TO START A TIKTOK ACCOUNT!!! She said she didn’t know how to even start motivational speaking, that’s how! We need you, Tameka! ♥️” wrote one netizen.
Even Google’s TikTok account commented: “Need to schedule a Google Meet with our life coach Tameka.”
Indeed, Tameka did just that, creating a TikTok account so she could reach out to many more people as she had to the sisters when they both needed a kind word. In a handful of days, less than a week, Tameka has 16.5 thousand followers and counting.
We all need, at one point or another, someone to tell us a few kind but necessary words. As clichéd as it sounds, everyone trips occasionally while navigating this tricky path that is life. We all deal with complicated feelings, and a helping hand could help us disentangle them. In other words, everyone needs a Tameka in their lives. But this also means we too can extend our kindness and be Tameka to others through simple, everyday deeds.