A little girl’s random act of kindness left Louise Sharp gobsmacked.

When Louise Sharp heard someone shout, “Excuse me!” as she was walking down the street, she thought she must have dropped something. Either that, or someone was going to ask her who her energy supplier was.

“But instead a young girl aged around eight or nine handed me a bunch of daffodils, a chocolate bunny and a note and said, ‘These are for you,’” Sharp explained in a Facebook post last week.

“Completely thrown, I asked, ‘Oh my goodness, why?’ and she replied, ‘Because you’re special, and people need to be told they’re special. And we all need to be kind to each other. So these are off me and my Grandad.’”

Sharp, who lives in the UK seaside town of Whitley Bay, says she was “completely gobsmacked”. She thanked the girl, but it wasn’t until later that she read the whole note.

“My Grandad and I love everyone so we love you. Please be kind to others and they will be kind to you. Tell someone you love them today. Show them you love them today, like we love you today. Grandad and Cassidy.”

The mum-of-three thanked Cassidy again in her Facebook post.

“You have just completely made my day, if not my year, you inspirational girl, and I’ll keep the note forever and look at it every time I feel I’m having a difficult day.”

It wasn’t long before Sharp’s post started attracting comments, most of them praising Cassidy or talking about their own experiences with her.

“Totally gobsmacked, as I’ve just shared this post and then had Cassidy and Grandpa run out to me in Whitley traffic and give me a note and egg,” wrote Paul Jobling. “Amazing gesture. It has me choked up.”

Friends of Cassidy’s family described the girl as a “little peach” and a “little angel”. Someone tagged Cassidy’s parents, Ross and Elise McDermott. Sharp was able to thank Cassidy properly.

“You’ve made some people very happy today and reminded us all to show a bit of love and human kindness. You are a diamond.”

Not surprisingly, there were also a few negative comments.

“Looks like it’s made to look like a child’s handwriting but I am not convinced,” posted one woman. “Sorry – nice if it were true.”

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Someone else said her sister had seen Cassidy handing out the notes and felt upset for her.

“She said this scruffy man who she was with was pointing to people and sending the little girl over to them. My sis felt really sorry for the little girl.”

Sharp was quick to defend Cassidy, explaining that it really was her handwriting, and also that she came from a “lovely family”.

Within a few days, Sharp’s Facebook post went viral. The story of one little girl’s random act of kindness quickly spread around the world. Sharp was stunned.

“I just can’t believe it. Shows that for all the people who moan about positive inspirational stories/quotes on Facebook, the majority of us love them.”

There’s no way of knowing how many people have been inspired to carry out their own random acts of kindness since reading about Cassidy. But Sharp is certainly one of them.

“I’m passing on the love and human kindness which she set out to do, and taking some Easter eggs into the Great North Children’s Hospital with me tomorrow night where I volunteer,” she posted.

Have you been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness?