Samantha Welch was moved to tears when she received a note from a total stranger on board a train headed towards Plymouth. The single mother was with her 3-year-old son, Rylan, when a man she hadn’t noticed walked up to her and handed her a small note.
During the train ride, Welch had tenderly cared for Rylan. She kept him occupied with music and games. She hushed him politely when he was too loud for the other passengers. And when the train looked too full, she lifted Rylan onto her lap to make room for another passenger.
While most people wouldn’t have thought twice about Welch or her son, this mystery man noticed and wanted to honor her. So on his way off the train, he walked up to her and handed her a note with $5 tucked inside, saying, “I think you’ve dropped this out of your bag.”
Stunned, Welch opened the note. It said, “Have a drink on me. You are a credit to your generation, polite and teaching the little boy good manners.” He identified himself as the “man on the train at table with glasses and hat,” and added “have a lovely evening.”
To wrap up the note, he wrote, “PS – I have a daughter your age… Hope when she has children she is as good a mother as you!”
The note floored Welch and instantly brought her to tears. As a single mother she works tirelessly to instill good manners into her son and raise him in the right way. To have that noticed and honored was absolutely incredible.
She said, “I honestly couldn’t believe it when I read it. I read it about ten or twenty times, over and over trying to take it in. I was shocked someone I didn’t know and hadn’t even spoken to had done this… I was so moved, I was overwhelmed. It meant so much to me.”
Welch put the money into Rylan’s saving account and went on a campaign trying to find the man who wrote the note.
It’s incredible how one simple gesture can remind someone of their value and make all of their hard work worth it. So we encourage you to be just like this mystery train man: do one thoughtful gesture for a friend or stranger. Buy flowers, leave a note, give a gift, clean up for them… it is worth it!
Please share this today to encourage a culture of kindness!
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