At the Holyoke Mall in Massachusetts, an elderly 83-year-old man wanted to get to the lower level but was too afraid and even terrified to go down the escalator.
However, his fear of riding an escalator quickly vanished when the man was approached by a young man who kindly grabbed his arm and helped him get to the lower level of the mall.
Alonzo Johnson was just shopping around in the mall and was making his way towards the exit, which is when he saw the man struggling to get on the escalator.
“He seemed really terrified. Something made me stop and just ask if he wanted to come down with me,” Alonzo said to Western Mass News.
Afterward, the old man accepted his offer and they were standing arm in arm. Alonzo made sure that the man felt safe on the ride down.
“He was telling me how he is 83 and I told him he looked nice. It was a great moment. I walked away and didn’t think anything of it until everyone was tagging me on Facebook,” the kind young man recalls.
Another person that was trying to help the man, Paula Picard, saw that Alonzo came in at just the right moment and at just the right tone to help the man. She wrote a heartfelt post about this small but very meaningful act of kindness which quickly went viral.
A little redemption for the suffering human soul.
The older man was paused at the top of an escalator and a few people started gathering waiting to get on. It was clear he was feeling unsure and this young man offered the simplest kindness: an outreached arm and a ‘can I help you on, sir?’
He quietly started to explain to the young man that he had gotten stuck on an escalator once and was a little scared. The young man gently offered an assurance, they looked at each other eye to eye for just a moment and the older man accepted his arm. Everyone else remained patient.
So, so sweet to witness!
In about an hour, the evening news will air and we’ll be reminded of division, political mud-slinging, shootings and other heartaches. But today, violence, age, politics and other social lines were blurred and one person simply helped another. I wanted to hug both of them.
Whoever this young man is, YOUR FAMILY RAISED YOU RIGHT! THANK YOU!
So, please look for the silver linings – as I was so fortunate to witness this evening.
A small act of kindness can go a long way. Alonzo was even recognized at the mall after his story went viral!
When asked what Alonzo would saw if he saw the man again, he humbly responds that he’d like to give him a hug.
“Don’t be afraid to help someone, just at least try, because you never know what someone is going through.”
What an amazing young man!
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