A Texas teenager recently garnered widespread praise for an unlikely reason: shading a wheelchair-bound stranger with an umbrella.
Louis Jordan was picking up his mother in downtown Houston last week when he saw a woman waiting for Houston’s METRO Lift service, which provides transportation for residents with disabilities, KTRK-TV reported. Noticing the scorching temperature, Jordan decided to take action.
“It was unbearably hot,” Jordan said. “I wouldn’t want to be out there in the sun.”
And so, Jordan treated the stranger how he would like to be treated. He had an umbrella in his car, so he got it out and held it over the woman’s head, providing her with some much-needed respite from the heat.
Jordan ended up waiting with the woman, named Michelle, for longer and expected, and the two struck up a friendship.
“Come to find out, it was going to be a little longer for METRO Lift to come and get her, so we ended up waiting out there for an hour and 45 minutes,” Jordan said.
Jordan’s proud mother, Bernette Botts, snapped the photo of her son’s selfless act.
It’s not the first time Botts has seen her son’s goodwill in action before. During Hurricane Harvey, he rescued his grandmother, who was trapped in her flooded Houston home with no power.
“She was trapped inside, four feet of water, no power,” Botts told KTRK. “He called me back from my mom’s and said, ‘I got her.'”
Now, whenever Jordan sees Michelle, he grabs his umbrella and waits with her for her ride, and the two visit while they wait for her ride.
“We laugh, joke,” Jordan said. “She’s in a book club. Come to find out, she likes pork chops.”
Jordan said he’s been through a lot, and he hopes he can continue to do good in the world.
“I pray that God allows me to be used every day,” he said. “I’ve been down and out so much.”
Botts said she’s happy with the man that she raised.
“I am one proud mama,” she said.
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Botts’ photo of her son has been shared thousands of times, according to KTRK. While it’s sad that an act like Jordan’s is considered extraordinary these days, hopefully his story will inspire others to love those they encounter in small ways, every day.
(H/T: KTRK-TV)