When 5-year-old Josiah Duncan began asking his mother what it meant to be homeless, she had no idea that what he was about to do would reverberate across their hometown of Prattville, Alabama, and also across the world.
Josiah and his mother were eating at a Waffle House when the young boy spotted a man entering the restaurant. No one seemed to pay any attention to the man, but Josiah’s mom, Ava Faulk recalls:
“He came in and sat down, and nobody really waited on him. So Josiah jumped up and asked him if he needed a menu because you can’t order without one.”
And then this tender-hearted Good Samaritan of a child asked his mom if it would be okay to buy the man a meal. She said that would be fine. So Josiah told the man the meal was on his mother, and at first the man was hesitant, only ordering a cheap hamburger. He looked up at Faulk and asked if he could also order bacon. She responded:
“I told him get as much bacon as you want.”
Before everyone began to eat their food, Josiah sang a prayer of thanks. Faulk says:
“The man cried. I cried. Everybody cried.?Watching my son touch the 11 people in that Waffle House tonight will be forever one of the greatest accomplishments as a parent I’ll ever get to witness.”
I’m not ashamed to admit that I have tears in my eyes as I write this. It’s simply one of the most beautiful and touching stories I’ve come across in a long time.
And my own personal prayer is that we will all teach our children the values of love and compassion that little Josiah Duncan exhibited in that Waffle House. Because these random acts of kindness are how we begin to change the world for the better.
