Clara Daly, 15 years old student from Calabasas, California, boarded a plane to Los Angeles with her mom.
The plane was already at an altitude of 30,000 feet when the flight attendant called to know if there was anyone on board who knew sign language, the kind teen knew she had to do something.
She has been practicing sign language for a year as part of her response to her dyslexia. And after hearing the call from the flight attendant, she immediately pressed her “call” button. The flight attendant went to her seat and explained that there is a blind and deaf elderly man in the plane with them and they needed someone to communicate with him. She asked if Clara could fingerspell, to which the teen replied she “totally” knew how to.
Clara and the flight attendant went to the gentleman’s seat and approached him. Clara reached for his hand and started to fingerspell for the 64-year-old blind and deaf man named Tim.
In an interview with CBS Evening News, Clara shared how the incredible encounter transpired that day.
“They thought that he might need something, and they weren’t sure how to communicate.”
It may only have been a year since Clara took lessons for sign language, but the teenager confidently grabbed the man’s hand to help him in communicating. It was a moment that she would never forget all her life.
Clara recalled how Tim was during the flight. She sensed his loneliness and realized that the man only wanted someone to talk to. In their hour-long conversation through signing, the teenage girl learned about the reason Tim was flying to Los Angeles. It was just 60 minutes, but the two of them shared an instant bond that will forever be in their memory.
The young lady humbly laughed as she was being interviewed by CBS Evening News, trying to dial down the incredible thing she did for that man.
“I was just thinking, ‘Wow, this is really cool, I hope I don’t spell anything wrong.'”
Clara was definitely an angel in disguise at that moment for Tim, and the passenger sitting next to him on the plane could not help but admire the amazing girl.
Lynette Scribner took a photo of Clara and Tim as they communicated with each other and later on shared about it on Facebook.
In the post, which was later made private by Lynette, the passenger shared how she felt about the incredible encounter that was made possible because of the kindness in Clara’s heart:
“I don’t know when I’ve ever seen so many people rally to take care of another human being. All of us in the immediate rows were laughing and smiling and enjoying his obvious delight in having someone to talk to.”
She also emphasized how at some points in the conversation, Tim and Clara were laughing together. Lynette shared how Tim looked less frustrated as time went by, seeing his face light up as he conversed with the teen.
Lynette’s post went viral and earned over a million likes after just a few days. It was a response she never could have imagined.
“I wrote about this, thinking I was just sharing a sweet story with my friends. Clara was so kind and genuine — she seemed to have no qualms about signing into Tim’s hands, and even though he couldn’t see her, she looked attentively at his face with such kindness.”
Clara, on the other hand, could not believe the positive and huge response she was getting after her story went viral. For her, it was just something that anyone would have done, had they been in her place.
“It’s weird that I’m getting so much attention for just doing something that I wouldn’t have thought twice about doing.”
What a sweet girl! She deserves all the love and admiration she is getting because she is truly a kind young lady who is an inspiration to all of us.
Know more about this moving story by watching the video below.
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