Acts of kindness shouldn’t go unnoticed. But in the busyness of everyday life, things often get overlooked.
We may not be able to applaud every time someone does something kind but if we do notice it, it doesn’t hurt to stop and appreciate the gesture.
15-year-old, Clara Daly, recently made headlines for her act of kindness and is receiving praise from just about everyone for it.
It all began during a layover on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregan.
Daly was traveling to Los Angeles with her mother, Jane. Originally, their flight was canceled so Daly and Jane were put on another flight.
That’s when fate stepped in.
On the same flight was 64-year-old Tim Cook. Cook is both deaf and blind.
The flight attendants did their best to tend to his needs but there were plenty of communication hurdles that they were unable to overcome.
In a Facebook post shared by fellow passenger, Lynette Scribner (since removed), she wrote:
“The flight attendants sincerely wanted to assist him, but had no way to communicate. I watched as they didn’t flinch when he reached out to touch their faces and arms. They took his hand and tried so hard to communicate with him, to no avail.”
Cook was originally assigned the middle seat but the gentleman next to him, Eric, switched with him for an aisle seat so that Cook would be more comfortable.
Eric did all he could to help by opening up his coffee creamer and helping him find the restroom but like the attendants, was unable to assist him further.
Thus, the attendants devised a plan to get Cook the help they knew he needed.
They asked over the intercom if there was anybody who knew sign language. Sure enough, Daly had taken a year of ASL courses and decided to offer up her services.
She pressed her call button and was asked if she knew how to “fingerspell.”
She did.
Daly immediately began to communicate with Cook. She was able to grant his request for water, the arrival time, and much more.
“He was just like lonely. He wanted to talk,” Daly shared with CBS News.
She made frequent trips to his seat in order to accommodate him as best as she could. The pair chatted for over an hour.
They discussed where Daly went to school and what her future plans were. Cook shared details about his life as well.
The two held “animated” discussions that made everybody around them laugh and smile.
The post that Scribner shared had garnered more than 700,000 shares on Facebook before it was removed.
“It’s weird that I’m getting so much attention for just doing something that I wouldn’t have thought twice about doing,” Daly confessed.
Still, Scribner and many others were moved by her generosity and kind heart.
Scribner wrote:
“It was a beautiful reminder, in this time of too much awfulness, that there are still good, good people who are willing to look out for each other.”
Cook lives in a home for the deaf in Gresham, Oregan and is accustomed to being alone. So anytime Daly came back to his seat to check in on him or just to chat, he simply lit up.
One of the crew members stated:
“You could tell Tim was very excited to have someone he could speak to and she was such an angel.”
We’re all extremely grateful that this story didn’t slide under any radars. What an inspiration!
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Source: CBS Evening News
