Bad things can happen to people all the time. A sudden moment can change your life, and sometimes other people just randomly choose to harm others. But when things like that happen, it’s good to know that there are other people out there who are willing to do what they can to help you out.
62-year old John Taylor was getting lunch at a local McDonald’s when his bike was stolen.
He had biked to the fast-food chain to grab something to eat quickly. During that time, he watched his own bike get snatched. Taylor went running after the thief, but he fell during the chase and never caught up to the person.
After that incident, he started asking people to drive after the thief, in hopes that he could catch them and reclaim ownership of his bike. He’d have to ask friends and family for rides if he wanted to get anywhere.
7-year old Matthew Neve was near the same McDonald’s when the theft happened.
In fact, Matthew’s mother, Suzanne, was one of the people that John Taylor asked to follow the bike thief in her car. While she did not want to get involved in a car chase, she did want to help out Taylor, so she called the police for him.
While waiting for the police, Taylor revealed that the bike was his only way to get around.
He had no other method of transportation. Without that bike, he would have a much harder time getting anywhere in Orlando. He even used it to get to work, and averaged hundreds of miles of bike riding each week.
When Matthew Neve heard Taylor’s story, it touched a nerve for him.
The little boy was sitting in the backseat of his mother’s car when John Taylor was talking to Suzanne. So while Suzanne was helping Taylor contact the police, Matthew overheard how difficult losing his bike would be for Taylor.
This inspired Matthew to do something a little bit extra. He’d received Target gift cards for his birthday, and he finally had a good use for them.
John Taylor’s predicament made Matthew want to take action.
Matthew describes his thought process to WKMG News by saying:
“I felt really really really bad, and I know he couldn’t get home. So, I thought to myself ‘What should I do?’ And, I decided to get all my gift cards that I had, and give them to him.”
Matthew decided to use his birthday gift cards to buy Taylor a bike.
Suzanne took Matthew to the nearby Target and helped him pick out a bike. Matthew paid for the bike with his own money, and decided to give it to Taylor himself.
At first, it was hard for John Taylor to accept the bike. He wasn’t expecting this from a 7-year old, but eventually, he accepted the gift.
Matthew’s selfless decision inspired John Taylor as well.
Now, with a new bike and a sense of community care, Taylor was feeling better. He was feeling so much better in fact, that when he ran into his bike thief later that day, he managed to avoid the physical altercation he had initially hoped to have. Taylor says that if Matthew had not stepped in and showed him kindness, he would have attacked the thief.
Instead, Taylor managed to get his original bike returned to him, and avoid violence. And because he wants to pass on the kindness that he was shown, he decided to give his old bike to someone else in need.
Watch the video below to hear more about this heartwarming story!
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