This world is full of sadness and cruelty. It is a wonder that we still find people that offer gestures of kindness without expecting anything in return. Everywhere you look, on the news or on our social media newsfeeds, people are criticized for their differences. Today we have a story about a father and son. At first, the father assumed his son was being haggled by what he thought was a homeless man. Little did he know, his son would soon surprise him to such a measure he had to share it with the world, even if it meant revealing his initial judgmental mentality.
Father and Son Roadtrip
Being human means we are born with the ability to judge. It is not something anyone is exempt from, but what we do with that judgment makes all the difference. Does your judgment make you seem “better” than others? Or do you judge in order to know what you want in life without putting yourself on a pedestal? A father took his son on a mini road trip for a soccer tourney. Along that route, the 11-year-old taught his father a most valuable lesson. Something he realized only children seem to have the capacity for. He started his post by saying how much he hesitated making it.
“I debated making a post of this as it paints a not so flattering picture of me as a person. But I think in the end it is a picture of many of us if we are truly honest with ourselves. Yesterday, as Sean and I traveled to NC for his soccer tourney we stopped at an exit near the N.C./S.C. border and pulled off at a small gas station for a drink. While I paid, I gave Sean the keys so he could head back out to the car,” wrote the father.
He Though it Was a Homeless Man
His son, Sean went to the car, but his father noticed him talking to a stranger. His immediate reaction was that it was a homeless man who was haggling him for change. As his son was only 11 years old, he thought this was worrisome. “It took me a little while to checkout and as I exited the store, I noticed Sean’s door opened and he was walking away from my car towards a man in a wheelchair. He was an older African American gentleman, with amputated legs and appeared ‘homeless’. My first reaction, sadly, was “oh crap! He is hitting Sean up for money and has called him over,” he wrote. “But as I walked closer Sean had clearly had a short conversation with the man, turned around and headed back to the car. So I did the same.“
Helping the Homeless Man in a Wheelchair
The father expressed how he had asked his son what they were talking about. His son just explained, “‘Nothing Dad. I just was asking if he needed help.’” His son went on to add, “‘He said no thanks, that he was fine but thanked me for asking.’“
This answer stunned the father. It was certainly not what he was expecting. “See, at first glance I didn’t even notice that the gentleman was attempting to cross a gravel parking lot, full of potholes, in a wheelchair using only his hands. I didn’t notice that my 11yo child was man enough to see this in the mirror of my car, drop his electronics he was playing, get out and offer to help the guy,” he wrote.
His son’s chivalry was not over yet. He asked whether they could give the man some money, which would undoubtedly help a man without any legs and arms, a meal, or a night’s stay at a shelter at least. The father agreed, but to his surprise, the homeless man said, “‘No thank you, I’m fine. Your son was a real gentleman and gave me all I needed today. God Bless.’“
What Would You Do?
The father explained how his son taught him such a valuable lesson that day. As they drove away, he realized that most people would have just assumed the worst and not given it a second thought. The world is so full of what he described as “nastiness” that it is hard to see the light. Thanks to kids like his son Sean, we can see there is hope for humanity. Sean’s father posted this story of his son and the homeless man not in the hopes his son would go viral. He did it so that more people might follow in his kind and compassionate footsteps.
“I don’t post this looking for any praise for Sean,” he wrote. “I post this to expose a real nastiness we have in our world. We spew such bile and hatred on every news channel, every Facebook post, every tweet. It’s not a right or left thing. We all do it. We have forgotten to look at the world through the eyes of a child.“
In conclusion, he wrote, “Many people have told us over the years how big hearted Sean is. While he can be bigger than life in many social settings, choosing to be the jokester, his small acts of kindness fly under the radar, as they should. Sean wasn’t looking for praise for what he did. He didn’t even know I would see it. He just saw a man that he thought needed help.“