One of the most vital factors that affect our well-being is togetherness and the ability to share happy moments with other people. However, not everyone has the luxury to enjoy companionship sometimes and this often results in feelings of loneliness, abandonment and, eventually, even depression.
A 20-year Army veteran, Lyndon Dale Flowers, of Maine, decided to do something about this lack of companionship on Veterans’ Day a few weeks ago. Since he knew that none of his friends or family could accompany him to dinner on that day, he decided to take action and solve this problem.
After having his hair cut at Judy and Heather’s barber shop, he scribbled a note describing his situation and handed it to the hairdresser, hoping that someone of her clients would be interested in taking him out to dinner on that day.
“Would someone like to take a local veteran to dinner on Veteran’s Day.” the note read. “No car. My treat.”
But the nice hairdresser there decided to spread the word and give this man the appreciation he deserved for serving his country. Heather shared the note on her Facebook page and it soon went viral. Within hours, Flowers’ phone started ringing and he was overwhelmed by all the kind words he received by people who didn’t even know him personally. The calls and messages he got were not always meant to accept his dinner invite, but even just to express their gratitude for everything he has done for his country. Needless to say that the responses weren’t limited to the Maine area, but they came from Virginia, California, Florida and beyond.
One of the people who replied was Sandy Washer, who offered to take him for lunch with her family instead of dinner.
“I went on Facebook for a minute and that just happened to pop up, and I said, ‘I can’t take you to dinner, but I can take you to lunch,'” Sandy Washer said.
According to Washer, veterans have a soft spot in her heart, since her dad used to be an army vet. And so it happened, Washer, her family, and Flowers all had lunch together on Veterans’ Day and they did have a blast.
According to the veteran, he didn’t expect his note to go viral or all these responses by people from all over the country.
“I didn’t mean to make a big uproar or a mess out of it. I just wanted to go to dinner.” he said.
Through the many calls he received, he even had the chance to make plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And he was grateful for it.
This story is to show that whenever you feel lonely, make sure you share this feeling with those around you because there are a lot of people out there willing to spend time with you and make you feel better. If we all discussed our problems and did something about them instead of sinking into them, we would be much happier.
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