When you're in a bad mood, all it takes is a simple act of kindness from a stranger to restore your faith in humanity. It could be an act of profound heroism, like someone rescuing someone else from certain death; or it could be something totally mundane - somebody reaching out to ask how you're doing, or a sincere thank you from a friend.
It's even more inspiring when kindness and altruism transcend racial and generational boundaries, like in the following example: a Facebook post which has ended up melting the hearts of countless social media users.
A woman named Natasha Crittenden Wilson, who hails from Florence, Alabama, spotted an act of true kindness in a doctor's office. She saw a mother walk into the doctor's bearing a sleeping baby. The receptionist handed her a lot of paperwork which she needed to fill out, leaving the woman in a bit of a pickle: she needed to sign it, but she couldn't risk letting go of her child - since there was nowhere for the infant to lie safely. However, a kindly older man then reached out and held her baby for her, allowing the mom to sign her paperwork unimpeded.
Wilson captioned the post: "I was in the waiting room at the doc office today and this lady walked in with her sleeping baby! They handed her paperwork to do & as she was sitting there trying to figure out how to hold her sleeping baby while filling out the paperwork, this man, from across the room, asks her if she would like for him to hold her baby while she did her paperwork!! [sic]"
She added: "She smiled and said that would be wonderful!! This man went over there and rocked and loved on that baby like he was his!! My heart Melted!!! Racism is still VERY real in our society today BUT THIS MAN GAVE ME HOPE & a sweet memory I'll never forget!! If you know this man tell him what an amazing person he is!! [sic]"
In a later interview with CBS, Natasha stated: "He loved on the baby as it was his own. I knew that he never interacted with this child before...it was just really really heartwarming ... It was touching for me because my children are biracial. It was heartwarming, especially because he was an older white man, just completely not thinking anything of race."
She added: "Just loved on this baby as if it was his baby. He completely saw nothing of colour, and neither did that mom. I see both sides of everything. It's just not very often that you see compassion for a complete stranger, and especially across races ... It just takes each one of us to teach our children there is no colour, there is no hate."
Wow, this really is a beautiful story! Don't mind me; I think I've got something in my eye, that's all. *sniff sniff*
