Danny Wakefield bought a $5 sunflower and wanted to give it to the current object of his affection. He eventually decided against it and found an even better idea of what to do with the sunflower.
Here’s what his rationale was:
“Last night I bought a sunflower to put on the windshield of someone I’m smitten with. After some consideration, I decided not to since we had only been on one date, the night previous. Don’t want to come off too strong, right?” he wrote on Facebook. “Anyway, I grabbed the flower on my way out this morning with the intention to give it to someone on my way to work so it didn’t die alone. What happened next has left me changed in ways I don’t even have words for yet.”
He was enjoying his morning coffee when the perfect opportunity presented itself to brighten someone’s day.
“While I was sitting and drinking my morning joe at the coffee shop (which I typically take to go), I saw a woman reading something with tears quietly and quickly sliding down her pale face,” Wakefield explained. “It was like there was a magnet in the sunflower that was being drawn to her, because I knew in that moment she was who I was going to give the sunflower to; she was who I had to give it to.”
He thought he was just going to make this woman smile and that would be it.
“When I got to her table I said, ‘Hey, pardon me. I have this sunflower that I was hoping to give to someone special and that someone I had in mind didn’t work out, but I can feel that you’re special too, so I want you to have it,'” he said. “Before I could even hand her the sunflower, this complete stranger flew into my arms with tears flowing, and gratitude spewing, as if I was someone she once loved, and lost. It’s what she said next that I’m still trying to grip.”
He was not expecting to get that reaction and had absolutely no idea how profoundly he affected this woman’s day.
“She was crying because her fiancé had died the week before, just months before they were going to get married. On their first date he brought her a sunflower and from then on, got her sunflowers, never roses, because she was the light of his life,” said Wakefield. “Today, through me, he was able to show her that she’ll always be the light of his life and how we as humans have a message to carry that goes far beyond words.”
What was even more surprising to Wakefield was the effect his encounter with the woman had on him.
“I’m shaken, awaken and feeling raw. You never know how much a simple gesture of giving someone a $5 flower will change their life, as well as yours,” he says. “Life is about giving and being of service to others. I challenge you all to find a way to make someone else’s life just a little bit brighter today and be of service. You never know the impact you could have.”
He even started a social media movement called #sunflowerchallenge where he asks people to give a sunflower to someone they don’t know.
“Have you shown kindness to a stranger today? When we simply look up to connect with others, sharing a warm smile and making eye contact, we foster a kindness that becomes a part of who we are, rather than what we do,” Wakefield saidon Facebook. “That kindness will in fact change this world and sometimes that change can look as simple as making someone’s day because you offered them that smile.”
You can check out Wakefield’s original post below.
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