Illinois Man Captured Helping a Disabled Customer at IHOP in Touching Photo
Disclosure: Because of the sensitive nature of the rights of people with disabilities (or anyone's rights to privacy), I strongly encourage you to get permission before taking someone's photo and sharing it on social media. The image featured below was obtained from a reputable news source and permission was given to share it. The point is not to draw attention to people with disabilities, but to show you that good people still exist in the world and it's beautiful.
Sunday morning, my boyfriend and I were having breakfast at Johnny Pamcakes; sitting in the booth directly behind us, all alone, was an older gentleman, about 75 years old. It broke my heart to see him sitting there by himself and there were a handful of times I felt the need to ask him if he wanted to sit with us. I'm not sure what was holding me back, but I never did. Instead, I sat there and watched as the door to the restaurant opened and closed, hoping that the next person to walk in was a companion of his who was maybe running just a little late. No one ever showed.
After seeing this Facebook status from Today, I'll make sure I don't make that mistake again, and if you're like me and you don't like seeing people eat alone in restaurants, you might feel the urge to do the same.
Keisha Dotson was at the IHOP in Springfield when she witnessed one of the servers helping a disabled woman with her meal; she snapped a photo and shared the sweet encounter on her Facebook page.
Looking at the comments, this is just an ordinary day for Joe Thomas, who told his local news station, "My mother and father always told me to treat everybody as equals, no matter what race, creed, color, whatever. Treat everybody equal.”