Texas couple's touching gesture to help bullied child find friends strikes a chord with the internet
Bullying is a serious issue that plagues children across the world and can leave them scarred for life. Kids who are bullied could end up feeling anxious, lonely, and emotionally vulnerable. This was something a couple from Texas had to witness when an emotionally hurt child came to their doorstep asking for friends, as reported by Daily Mail. The video showing the heartbreaking plea of the boy asking for friends went viral on TikTok recently. The video was captioned "It takes 2 seconds to make someone's day, you never know what people are going through until you get a chance to talk to them. This young man is well-mannered, kind, and brave. So Tiktok can we help Shayden make some friends???#fyp #bekind #nobullying #love #kindness #letschangetheworld".
Angell Hammersmith and Brennan Ray never imagined in their dreams that they would find a boy pleading with them to be their friends at their doorstep. The video is footage that had been garnered from a Ring camera installed at the entrance of the couple's house. The kid, whose name is Shayden, introduced himself and said, "Hi. I just wanted to see if you knew any kids around, like 11 or 12, maybe, because I need some friends. Like, really bad." The manner in which Shayden pleaded was heartbreaking, as it was clear that he was emotionally very drained and was reaching out for help. The whole led to a revelation made by the boy after @brennanray suggested him some friends.
Ray pointed the boy towards some teenagers that he knew who resided in the neighborhood, and he believed that they would love to be his friends. After this, Shayden said that he knew them and they were his friends but are not anymore after bullying him. After this, the couple sadly communicated to him that their daughter is 2 years old and therefore will not be able to be his friend. Hearing this Shayden shared, “Oh, OK that’s great. I love two-year-olds, to be honest, they’re just the most cutest things I have ever known”. He expressed that his experience with 2-year-olds is because of his sister. After a polite exchange, the boy and Ray parted ways.
Viewers in the comment section turned emotional after seeing the boy's plight. @otterpili wished for good things for the kid and commented, "What a sweet boy!! I hope he finds friends. He’s so brave". @k3113y_ appreciated the kid and wrote, "Stop it🥹he deserves all the friends in the world🩵". In a matter of a week, the video has garnered 68.2 million views and 167.8k comments.
The couple felt uneasy at being unable to help the sweet boy and decided to set up a GoFundMe to make his summer more enjoyable and collected more than $38,000. It was closed on Friday after Shayden's mother said that her son did not need more money. The boy's stepfather also gave a positive update that Shayden was in a much better position in comparison to the state he was in during that video.