See this guy right here? His name is Kahlief. At some point on Friday night, while working at the front desk of the Hampton Inn, Kahlief looked up to find a random kid standing in front of him, asking if he’d like to see a card trick. Let me tell you all the things Kahlief didn’t know.
He didn’t know that this little boy has autism, and that learning and performing card tricks helps him quiet and focus his brain, as well as keep his hands busy. He didn’t know that this boy lost his dad a few years ago, has been on the waiting list for a ‘big brother’ for over two years, and lives with only his mom and sister, which makes him miss interacting with male figures.
Kahlief didn’t know any of that, but he was still kind enough to say ‘yes.’ He could have easily told Colin he was busy, asked him to come back later, or offered any number of excuses, but he didn’t. He allowed Colin to hang out at the desk with him, watching him perform card tricks, and even showed Colin some tricks he knew. Kahlief paused when needed—when the phone rang or a customer came in—but he never once made Colin feel like a nuisance or a burden.
In fact, when we saw that Kahlief had returned for another shift the following day, he made it a point to let Colin know he was ready to go with more card tricks. So this kind man took time out of his day again on Saturday, still unaware of the huge impact he was having on Colin, because he didn’t know all the things about Colin that mattered.
I love and live for feel-good moments like this. It is so easy to be kind, yet it seems to be such a rare occurrence these days.
credit go to owner