Why this photo of two men on a bus is filling our hearts with hope
When 21-year-old Godfrey Cuotto, a student in Hamilton, Ontario, got on a local bus earlier this week, something happened that, at first, he didn’t quite know how to react to.
Godfrey was coming home after grabbing a burrito downtown. He got into the packed bus and sat down. A man with special needs near the front wanted to shake his hand, and although Godfrey was shocked, he obliged. . . and the man kept holding on. “He kept holding my hand,” he told the Huffington Post Canada. “I thought I was getting pranked at first, but he just needed comfort.”
The man held his hand throughout the ride, hugging him, kissing him, and leaning on him. “I just allowed it, like what am I going to do?” Cuotto says. “Sometimes you just have to be selfless and put someone else’s needs above yours.” An anonymous person snapped a shot of the picture and submitted it to the Facebook page Only In Hamilton with the caption “I didn’t know if [you] can post this but I would [like] to say thank you to the guy who was seating beside a special needs gentleman. . . He allowed him to hold his hand and find comfort well in a packed bus. . . It [makes] my day when I see stuff like that.”
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The photo has since gone viral with almost 10,000 shares, and for an amazing reason. But that’s not where this story ends.
A family member of the man, whose name was revealed to be Robert, contacted Godfrey after seeing the photograph and thanked him, explaining that his uncle not only suffers from special needs, but also from cerebral palsy and deafness.
According to Godfrey, the bus was “jam-packed,” which may have overwhelmed Robert, he said in an interview with Toronto radio station Kiss 92.5. He stayed with him until the last stop.
In a world filled with people bustling to get everywhere they need to go as fast as possible, we are so happy to hear there are people like Godfrey in the world who pause to help someone in need. Robert was likely feeling overwhelmed and frightened by his surroundings, and Godfrey didn’t worry about what others would think, nor his own personal comfort — he was there, steady and supportive, for someone who needs it. It’s a beautiful world, folks.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Godfrey attributes his kindness to his mother, telling Kiss 92.5 he was “raised by a queen.”
(Image via Facebook.)