He Sees Homeless Man Talking to Son. When They Meet 2nd Time, Son Thanked for Kindness
There are plenty of ways parents try to prepare their kids for the world. They encourage their children to do well in school and develop traits like diligence, a solid work ethic, and pride in a job well done.
They teach their kids to have manners: to chew with their mouths closed, to hold their silverware properly, and to ask to be excused.
But there are a lot of lessons that kids discover themselves with or without the help of their parents. Blanton O’Neal discovered that last week with his son Sean.
They were traveling to one of Sean’s soccer tournaments in the neighboring state when they stopped to refuel at a gas station.
Not thinking much of it, Blanton told his son he could go wait in the car while he finished paying at the counter.
By the time he finished up and headed outside, too, he saw his son hop out of the car and head right for a man in a wheelchair who had no legs and looked a little rough.
Blanton’s first instinct was fear. What was his son doing? Surely his kindness was being preyed on.
Later, when Blanton recounted the incident on Facebook, he was wary of sharing the story because it showed how callous he himself was — but ultimately he decided the story needed to be told.
“I debated making a post of this as it paints a not so flattering picture of me as a person,” he wrote. “But I think in the end it is a picture of many of us if we are truly honest with ourselves.”
He set the scene and then described the man his son was so casually approaching.
“He was an older African American gentleman, with amputated legs and appeared ‘homeless.’ My first reaction, sadly, was ‘oh crap! He is hitting Sean up for money and has called him over,'” which is probably a common-if-critical thought process many parents would have.
“But as I walked closer Sean had clearly had a short conversation with the man, turned around and headed back to the car. So I did the same. As I entered the car, I asked him what that was all about. ‘Nothing Dad. I just was asking if he needed help. He said no thanks, that he was fine but thanked me for asking.'”
Then Blanton realized how jaded he’d been, and how his biases had twisted what he’d seen when he’d watched his son trotting toward the homeless man.
“See, at first glance I didn’t even notice that the gentleman was attempting to cross a gravel parking lot, full of potholes, in a wheelchair using only his hands. I didn’t notice that my 11yo child was man enough to see this in the mirror of my car, drop his electronics he was playing, get out and offer to help the guy.”
As they left, Sean even asked if they could offer the man some money, but when they asked him he replied “No thank you, I’m fine. Your son was a real gentleman and gave me all I needed today. God Bless.” Sean and the man exchanged waves, and they were off.
The dad began to question his own motives, and whether or not he would have acted as kindly as his son.
“I don’t post this looking for any praise for Sean. I post this to expose a real nastiness we have in our world. We spew such bile and hatred on every news channel, every Facebook post, every tweet. It’s not a right or left thing. We all do it. We have forgotten to look at the world through the eyes of a child.”
“Sean wasn’t looking for praise for what he did. He didn’t even know I would see it. He just saw a man that he thought needed help.”
Blanton encouraged readers to look for opportunities for small kindnesses, to see the good in others and to create more good themselves. “I just pray the world doesn’t change this kid,” he ended his post.
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