A young man’s gesture of kindness towards a deaf man with cerebral palsy is touching hearts around the world. Canadian university student Godfrey Coutto was on the express bus heading home in Hamilton, Ontario, when a middle-aged man approached him on the packed bus to shake his hand. Godfrey didn’t pull away when the stranger kept on holding onto his hand, but he wondered what was going on when the man named Robert began wrapping an arm around him and kissing his hands.
At first Godfrey said he thought he was getting pranked, but when he looked at Robert and realized he is special-needs. Godfrey, 21, was uncomfortable at first, but he decided to sit alongside Robert until he got off at the bus’ final stop.
Someone else noticed what Coutto did and snapped a photo and posted it to Facebook, where it quickly went viral. The poster wrote, “”[Coutto] allowed him to hold his hand and find comfort well in a packed bus. It make [sic] my day when I see stuff like that.”
Photo credit: Facebook / Only In Hamilton
Robert’s family soon saw the picture and Robert’s niece, Vick Jacobs, sent him a message on Facebook to thank him for helping her uncle, writing: “Thank you Godfrey for comforting Uncle Bobs, and putting not only a smile on my family members faces but tens of thousands of people around the world. I hope to come across many more people like you in my life!”
Godfrey’s parents also expressed how proud they were of their son.
Godfrey is humble by all the attention he is receiving, telling the Huffington Post, “Sometimes you just have to be selfless and put someone else’s needs above yours.”
Many people would reject Robert’s attention (in fact someone did the moment Robert got off the bus – Robert tried to hug a man but was ignored), but Godfrey’s act of kindness shows just how wonderful some people can be.
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