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Nowadays we are all constantly bombarded with heavy and upsetting news. People tend to focus on negative news and forget that there is still a lot of kindness out in the world. However, it’s important to keep in mind the random acts of kindness that can still be found if we keep our eyes open. The following story of a man holding a stranger’s baby will restore your faith in humanity.
We’ve all been there: you flick through outdated magazines while waiting to be called into your appointment. When you hear your name called you can finally leap out of your seat and continue with the rest of your day. Usually, this is it. But for one woman, a routine appointment turned into an experience she can never forget.
Natasha Crittenden Wilson, a Florence, Alabama native, was in the waiting room of her doctor’s office, patiently hanging on for her appointment. She thought this would just be another routine appointment and did not expect she’d soon witness something wonderful.
When people walk into a doctor’s office and are asked to fill out routine paperwork and forms. Most people do not think much, filling out the forms as quickly as possible in order to move on with the appointment. But in fact, this is not as straightforward a task as it seems.
While Wilson was waiting, she noticed a young mother come into the office. Her kid was sleeping deeply while wrapped in his mother’s loving arms. The front desk gave the woman the very same paperwork and forms that Wilson had filled out herself a few minutes before.
Wilson did not really pay attention to the woman and her kid at first - they were just filling forms after all. But after a while, Wilson realized that there was a problem.
In her now popular Facebook post, Wilson described the situation she witnessed that day: “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…”
Even if for most people this part of the doctor’s appointment is unremarkable, it became very clear to Wilson that the mother was faced with a small problem. The young mother seemed very determined to let her baby keep sleeping but the paperwork needed to get done anyway.
The mother was clearly visibly concerned about not wanting to wake her baby, but before Wilson did anything, someone else had noticed the young woman’s dilemma and did something that melted Wilson’s heart.
Wilson continued to describe the heartwarming incident she witnessed at the doctor’s office: “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.”
After the kind stranger offered the young mother his help, Wilson could not help but see the woman’s response. It did not disappoint her. Wilson shared that the mother “smiled and said that would be wonderful!! This man went over there and rocked and loved on that baby like he was his!!”
The sad reality of life is that many times we do not go out of the way to help one another out. It is much easier to do nothing when we see a stranger in need of a favor rather than take time out of our day to lend a helping hand. However, on that day, Wilson witnessed a kind stranger reaching out to a mother who faced a simple problem.
Wilson’s touching post went viral. The photo and story had amassed over half a million shares and 78,000 comments to boot! People from every corner of the world were responding to the man’s kind act. A woman from Nigeria commented: “Oh! What a beautiful heart!”
Wilson was invited to share her story with audiences around the world on Good Morning America. While speaking on the show, she said that the man “went over and picked up the sleeping baby and sat and hummed to him and rocked him until he was called back to his room. This was something I had never witnessed in my life. I have seven of my own children and people just don’t normally offer help anymore to someone they don’t know.”
As Wilson said, even as a mother of seven children of her own, she had not experienced this sort of act of kindness. Wilson is very aware of the reality that most people would just rather keep going with their own day than take a moment to think about what they can do to help out a stranger. But the man’s kindness led to another realization for Wilson.
Since Wilson went onto Good Morning America and shared the heartwarming story, the mother, child, and kind man received a lot of attention. Therefore, their names were finally revealed to the public. The young mother was identified as Jade West. Her little baby was named Jayce Billings, and the man who kindly offered to help is Joe Hale.
The mother in the story, Jade West, also went on Good Morning America. She shared: “I felt relieved and appreciated at the fact that he wanted to help, he seemed really genuine….” West was truly thankful of the kind man who offered to help her out and made the task of filling out the paperwork possible without having to worry about her baby.
West continued to gush about Hale’s kind act. She shared, “He talked about how he never stops being a ‘paw paw’ and how he loved kids and just about my baby in general!” It seems as if Hale was not acting just out of kindness, but also out of empathy. He too had once been the one taking care of a baby, and even now as a grandparent, knows how difficult simple everyday tasks become when you need to care for a baby as well.
Jade continued to share her wonderful experience with the kind man who offered her and her young son his help: “He was literally just loving on him and talking to him as though he was his own grandchild and had known him his whole life. He was just the kindest.”
The post that Wilson shared went viral – reaching thousands of people online all over the world. So many people saw the post and commented Wilson that she decided to start keeping track of where the responses were pouring in from. She worked out a list and shared it with her followers!
Wilson was truly amazed at how many people read the story. She said of the responses from different places she heard from,” Some of them I’ve gotten from multiple states/district/providence/islands, etc…I’m just in awe! You can’t tell me God isn’t real because this is nothing short of GOD!!”
The simple act of kindness that took place in Alabama reached people from every corner of the world. But exactly where did they come from? Some of the countries that people reached out to Wilson were from South Africa, Germany, Peru, Spain, Congo, Ireland, and many more…the global reach is simply incredible!
Since the post went viral, it’s very clear that the story moved many people. Perhaps it is because of the fact that a simple act of kindness will usually be met with positive responses, as was the case in this story that Wilson shared. In her own words, she said: “I think it’s shown more people and given more people hope.”
Even if the post that Wilson shared went completely viral, Joe Hale, the man in the famous photo, does not seem to be basking in the spotlight. It seems as if he is not taking part in interviews about his act of kindness. In a way, it shows that his kind actl was truly genuine, as he was not helping just to get attention and fame.
Wilson shared the story not just to showcase Hale’s kindness but also to convey a universal message of hope. She shared, “I’m just a small town girl,” she said. “It’s got to be God saying ‘Look, people. We can love one another. It’s not hard.’ And it’s not.”
We can all learn from the story of Hale reaching out to help a young mother. Sometimes in life we are faced with these moments of opportunity, that will not take much out of our own time. Thanks to people like Hale, we can see that even a few minutes of your time can make a world a better place.
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