Everyone is busy. We've all got responsibilities, problems, and social obligations of our own to deal with.
With so much going on, it can be easy to get wrapped up in our own worlds, completely oblivious to the hundreds of people we pass by every day — like this man on the subway, who was freezing cold because he didn't have a shirt.
Even if we do happen to pay attention long enough to see that someone else is struggling, it can be confusing to know what to say or do about it. It might feel easier to put our heads down and hope that someone else will know the answer.
Thankfully, some people — like Officer Sebastian Goldman from the Hueytown Police Department in Alabama — are able to put their awkwardness aside and take action.
Recently, while shopping at a local grocery store, Officer Goldman noticed something was wrong with the young employee who was helping him. Right then and there, he decided that this was one problem he knew how to fix right away.
Scroll through below to find out what Officer Goldman did that moved everyone at the Food Giant nearly to tears.
[H/T: Huffington Post]
It was a very rainy day when Officer Goldman stopped by the Food Giant store in Hueytown, AL, to pick up a few items.
After he finished his purchase, he got some assistance taking the bags out to the car from a 19-year-old male employee.
During their interaction, Officer Goldman couldn't help but notice that the boy's shoes were full of holes.
The young man had done his best to repair the shoes, using strategically placed duct tape to plug up as many of the holes as possible.
Most of us probably would have thought, "Oh that's a shame," and then never given the teen and his holey shoes a second thought.
But not Officer Goldman.
"I looked at him and said, 'What's up with duct tape?''' the law enforcement officer told AL.com. "Is that something all the kids are doing? A fashion statement?"
The teen explained that the shoes had split while he was working and he had taped them together to hold him over until payday, when he could purchase a new pair, ABC reported.
The officer thanked the young man for his help and left, but he couldn't stop thinking about what he'd seen. The rain was coming down hard, and he realized that if the teen had to walk home with his taped shoes, it would be a very soggy mess indeed.
So, instead of going about his day, Officer Goldman drove directly to a shoe store, bought a new pair, and returned to the Food Giant.
"I said, 'Man, here you go. I didn't know [if] payday was Friday or two weeks from now,''' Goldman told AL.com.
"He said, 'What do I owe you?' and I told him to just pay it forward."
The random act of kindness caught the attention of other employees and customers, including Angela Roach Scory, who documented it in a Facebook post.
"Special shout out to Hueytown Police Officer Goldman," the post reads.
"Today he saw a young man with duct tape on his shoes at Food Giant and bought him a new pair of shoes! Everyone at Food Giant this morning was in tears when he brought them to the young man!!!! Way to go Officer Goldman!!!!"
Officer Goldman's story just goes to show the profound impact that small deeds can have upon the lives of others.
Have you ever committed a random act of kindness like this? Tell us about it in the comments.
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