Acts of Kindness
Kindness shown to Autistic boy by restaurant owner inspires thousands
Kindness is so powerful.
Rose Ann Dabu
02.18.21

Dining out is one of the things that we usually do when we want to unwind and at the same time eat good food. It really makes us happy when we get excellent service from the restaurants we go to. It’s like it makes the food even tastier.

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A young man with autism visited a restaurant in Williamsville, New York one day.

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He was with his parents at that time. Before going in, the boy practiced how he was going to ask for the takeout menu.

Owen has autism and likes to know exactly where he’s going to eat dinner each night. He’s an obvious foodie and on this specific night, he was excited to eat at the local Burmese restaurant, Sun Cuisines.

Aside from the takeout menu, Owen got another thing.

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He got to see first hand, the benefits of the Sun’s manager’s Metta meditation practice.

He was then greeted by partner and manager, Aye Thein, who got him the take out menu and then asked Owen how he was doing. Owen said he was hungry.

“And when I looked at his face, from my heart I said, ‘Oh he’s a very special boy, to me.'” remembers Thein.

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Aye Thein practices a form of meditation that expresses loving-kindness to others.

The beauty of Metta

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It’s called Metta, and the practice helps to cultivate empathy and compassion in your life. The meditation consists of silent repetition of phrases such as “May you be happy” or “May you be free from suffering.”

These wishes are directed at someone in your life, starting with yourself, then loved ones, and onto deeper levels of directing your thoughts towards difficult, rude, and unkind people. The practice helps develop compassion and empathy for the world and can elevate one’s daily positive emotions.

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Helena Cuerva from Pixabay

When Owen went inside the restaurant, Thein had Metta running through her mind when she put her practice into play. She asked what he wanted to eat and Owen said, “Beef.”

A surprising act of kindness

Owen was served by a steaming bowl of beef curry by Aye Thein. Now remember, Dad is waiting in the car for his son to return with the takeout menu so they can order food for the family.

But when he didn’t return, his dad started to worry. What dad didn’t expect was to find his son enjoying a hot helping of beef curry provided by the staff.

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Owen’s mom Sandra tells Western New York’s News 4 that Owen loves to know exactly where he’s going to eat each night, and they all knew they were going to get takeout from Sun Cuisines. Owen and his dad Pat pulled into the parking lot and they repeated what Owen was going to say before he went inside.

It was truly unexpected for Owen’s dad.

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When Pat entered the restaurant he found his son sitting at a table eating, and then he got the whole story from Thein. Pat snapped a picture and sent it off to his wife.

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They were all so overjoyed by this simple act of kindness. Sandra wanted to spread the good message so she posted the picture and the story on social media.

The touching moment has reached thousands of people across the globe.

“I’m sitting their refreshing it and telling my my husband, ‘Hey we got like a thousand likes on this,’ and then I’m like, ‘No, make that 1,200.'” recalls Sandra.

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Many folks on YouTube are expressing how they want to apply this thinking to their own lives.

“I need to start applying kindness and servitude to other people … Time to change my perspective and learn humility.”

“Simple acts of kindness really make a huge difference.”

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Hopefully, many of us would practice Metta, too.

And if you’re in the Willmington, NY area go get some of that loving-kindness and a good meal from Sun Cuisines.

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This story just shows us how powerful kindness is. When we do kindness towards someone, it could make an impact on their life bigtime. For sure, they would never forget about it.

Play the video below for the full story.

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