The things we do and say to others can either make or break their spirits. Sometimes, we don’t know how bad things are for people. We might look at them and guess, but we never know how bad things really are for them.
A rider on the New York subway system recently captured a video of a man giving a homeless person the shirt off his back.
He wasn’t asked to do it, and dozens of other people had passed by the same man and ignored him.
Joey Resto couldn’t do that. There was no way he could see this poor man, who was clearly sick, cold, and hungry, and not do anything about it. He didn’t have much to offer, but he noticed the man had no shirt, so Resto gave him his.
He explained:
“It was a natural reaction to help, to do what I can. I hope they find this guy. It’s not hard to spot him out.”
Resto is a 23-year-old paralegal.
When he got on the train that day, he noticed that everyone was avoiding the homeless man. He could tell that they didn’t want to be around the man, and nobody even bothered to ask if he needed any help.
Resto wasn’t bothered by him, though.
He sat down right across from him. That’s when he got a good look at the man. It looked like the poor man had been in a fight recently. He had cuts and bumps all over him. He also looked sickly, and with temperatures dipping into the low 30s, Resto knew he had to be cold without a shirt.
He took a video of the man for Snapchat and hoped that it would help raise awareness of the homelessness problem. Then he decided he had to do more. He said:
“After I did the first video of him with nothing on, I said, ‘Nah I can’t just sit here and not do anything.”
Resto took off his own white T-shirt and offered it to the man.
The man happily accepted it but didn’t say a word. Resto started to talk to him, and the man finally opened up. He shared that he had been robbed of his cash and his clothing earlier that day. Resto explained:
“He didn’t really say ‘yea,’ he just kind of lifted his arms like a child. He was warm for the first time in I don’t know how long. He just curled up in a corner and went to sleep.”
Resto’s heart broke for the man. He tried to get the man to get off the train with him for a warm meal and more clothes, but the homeless man decided to stay on the train.
Another passenger on the train saw what was going on and recorded the entire incident.
Resto had no idea he was being filmed. He wasn’t looking for recognition or attention, he was just trying to do the right thing and help someone in need.
The man who caught the incident on camera said:
“The guy did a good deed, so I wanted to record it. I would tell him, ‘God bless him.’ That was thoughtful.”
Now that more people are aware of the man’s problems, Resto is hoping that more people will step up and do the right thing for not only him but other people in similar situations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xiKgeqUDDY
Source: YouTube Screenshot
The homeless man has not yet been identified and has not come forward.
The video has been viewed over 300,000 times, and people are impressed by Resto’s kindness and compassion. He insists that he was just doing the right thing. Still, based on the many people who passed the same man and did nothing, it’s safe to say that Resto is a pretty compassionate and kind young man. Hopefully, this homeless man can get some help from other people or find a shelter, so he doesn’t have to spend any more cold nights on the train or on the street.
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