Children seem to have a sixth sense about them when it comes to other people’s feelings and true intentions. They can sense when a person means them harm before adults usually can, and they also seem to have the special ability to know when someone needs a hug or some encouragement.
Alyssa Hacker of Coweta, Oklahoma, saw this firsthand when she was at the Fort Smith Target with her young son, Owen.
As they walked around the store, Owen saw some dinosaur toys and quickly scooped up three of them. Alyssa told Owen he could have one and he was trying to pick his favorite when an elderly gentleman happened to walk past them.
“Hi!” Owen yelled to him.
The man turned around and said, “Hey, sweet boy,” and stopped to play dinosaurs with Owen.
At first, Alyssa was a little hesitant about this stranger being so close to her son, but then the man did something that left her stunned.
“The man got his wallet out and pulled a $20 out,” Alyssa recalled, “he put it in Owens pocket on his shirt.”
Then he told her something that felt like a punch in the gut:
“I just lost my 2-year-old grandson last week,” he told her. “You take this money and buy this boy all three dinosaurs.”
With that, he rubbed Owen’s back, wiped some tears away, and walked off.
As Owen yelled, “Thank you,” to the man, Alyssa was left speechless.
“There is still some good in this world,” she wrote in a now-viral Facebook post.
Somehow Owen just knew this man needed some kindness and encouragement that day. Though playing with Owen didn’t make his loss easier, it did help lessen the pain for a moment.
We’re sure the encounter is one neither he nor Alyssa will forget for a long time.
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