Having dinner is never fun, if you are eating alone. This is especially sad for someone who has a disability, like Lyndon Dale Flowers.
A war veteran for 20 years now, Dale decided to make some plans for dinner because he also wanted to celebrate Veterans’ Day. But, it was unfortunate that his friends were not available to join him in his simple celebration. Without a car and someone to have supper with, Dale was already feeling lonely. Even though he badly wanted to have dinner with a companion, the war veteran was also aware that it won’t be easy to find a person who will connect with him…until he thought of a unique way of getting what he wanted.
He went to Judy and Heather’s Barber Shop and got himself a haircut. After that, he got a piece of paper and wrote a note that said:
“Would someone like to take a local disabled veteran to dinner on Veterans Day? No car. My treat.”
He then hung the note on the shop’s bulletin board. The old man was really hoping for a positive response. What he got was way better!
One of the barber shop’s owners, Heather Jeselskis Swift, decided to take a photo of his note and uploaded it on her Facebook account, saying:
“Would someone with a car take him up on his offer?” she wrote. “I would love to flood his phone with caring phone calls from us all.”
When people saw her post online, they were touched by the veteran’s story and were more than happy to reach out to him and give him words of kindness. The responses came from people from Florida, Virginia and California, and they were absolutely amazing!
One woman, Sandy Washer, was so moved by the old man’s humble request that she decided to call Dale to let him know that she will be driving for 40 minutes from Norway, Maine just to take the war veteran to lunch. She’s really fond of veterans since her father was a veteran as well.
Dale was undoubtedly surprised at how much response his simple note got.
“Apparently it went kinda viral, you know?” the old man said. “I didn’t mean to make a big uproar or a mess out of it. I just wanted to go to dinner.”
He was laughing as he shared this, but deep inside, the war veteran was moved by how much love and kindness there is in the world. He used to think that an old, disabled war veteran such as himself will never be able to connect with others again, but the out pour of love and concern he received was overwhelming. It was a reminder that love and kindness is still alive and he was lucky to find it out in such a beautiful way.
After the happy experience he got from this amazing viral story, he is now more excited than ever in spending Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Sometimes, we only need to ask when we need some confirmation of love from our family and friends. This is what Dale did. This war veteran had sacrificed a lot for out country. Now that he is old and gray, he deserves to be given the attention and love he needs.
Simple his request may be, the sincerity behind Dale’s every word touched the hearts and the lives of a lot of people online, giving everyone including him a new perspective in how we should live our lives.
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