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Little boy gives the last cent to a homeless man, his father learned a valuable lesson
Adults are the ones who should be the guides of young people through life, teaching them about the things that life brings, but it is not always like that and the situation is reversed in some cases as we end up learning some valuable lessons from children.
Justice and his son were driving home from the dentist when they were approached by a homeless man. Justice posted on social media that he wished he could help the man but did not have any cash.
His 5-year-old son saw the man as well. And then it happened.
“Uncoached, he insisted that I give the man the 30 cents he had in his pocket. It’s almost as if he heard my thoughts and responded out loud,” Justice wrote.
“I was more than happy he wanted to do this with joy (it means he’s been watching), but honestly, I was hesitant. I didn’t want to give this man, who clearly needed all the help he could get, just 30 cents. My own pride and thoughts of the homeless individual’s unknown reaction to receiving just two coins was standing in the way.”
“I quickly realized that I was the only problem in this situation and that the traffic light would turn green at any second.”
“I then thought to myself, ‘Dude, get over it. This is what we’ve been teaching him and now that he wants to give everything he has to offer in this moment, you’re going to let your personal self-centeredness ruin a possibly life-long, great memory and solid teaching moment?”
“Leading by example is what we’ve been teaching him, so now let him lead. Let him give what he can to this man…”
He went on to say the following in his post: “I almost told my son, ‘Let’s wait to give until we at least have one dollar.’ I almost told our son by my inaction that what he had wasn’t enough. I almost showed him that what he sees as a good thing, and is in fact a good thing, isn’t good enough to make a difference in someone’s life. I almost taught him that pride was more important than helping another human.”
“Thank God I quickly snapped out of that foolishness.”
After that, he lowered the window of the vehicle and said, “I’m sorry man, I don’t have any cash on me, but my son back here wants to give you everything he has right now. He just turned 5.”
“And my God… The smile on that man’s face lit up the intersection, and he said to my son, ‘God bless you little man! Thank you so much!’”
“The only thing that matched the brightness of that stranger’s smile after that moment was…the bigger smile on our ‘baby’ boy’s face!!”
Justice also believes that the act of generosity started behind them that day in their city, as other people rolled down their windows to donate, too.
“Our little boy, without even realizing it, reminded me once again by his actions that it’s always about the heart. It doesn’t matter how much you have or how little; giving in love and sincerity will often bless others more than we think.”