4-Year-Old Boy Sees Elderly Woman Walking In The Rain, Rushes To Help

Nov 17, 2021 by apost team

Throughout the world, many cultures emphasize that younger generations should celebrate, learn from and respect their elders. In Japan, they even have a national public holiday for it: Keiro-no-Hi, Respect for the Aged Day. Every September since the 1940s, Japanese people have taken time out of their days to show their appreciation for the old. According to Culture Trip, companies will even organize special volunteer events to help the elderly. Community members will even deliver lunches and distribute basic supplies like toothpaste and soap.

Chinese and Korean cultures also place emphasis on respecting one’s elders, as both are influenced by the Confucian notion of Xiao, or filial piety. “Filial piety is demonstrated, in part, through service to one’s parents. It has shaped family care giving, intergenerational equity, old age income support, living arrangements, and other aspects of individual, family, social, political, and legal relations in China, Japan, and South Korea for millennia,” the scholar B. Spielman writes.

While we can’t verify the video’s origin, the GoodNewsMovement shared a heartwarming example of filial piety on Twitter in November 2021. In the short clip, we see a young boy as he holds an umbrella for an older woman. The woman, who walks with a cane, seems to struggle as she heads down the street, but the young boy is there to offer his support, shielding her from the rain. What makes this video even more stunning is that GoodNewsMovement reports that the boy is only 4 years old. It’s inspiring to see a young boy embody such a profound concept as filial piety.

"I realized that Leo wanted to help her, so I encouraged him. He took her right up to the door of the church and at 4 years old he's already an example to be followed...my son, my pride,” the boy’s mom said, according to GoodNewsMovement.

Twitter users seemed heartened by the video’s message.

“Class!! And great parenting!” Geoff Thomas wrote in response to the clip.

“Sweet!” someone added.

Luckily, there are other examples of young Americans exemplifying filial piety.

Back in May 2019, an older man was walking down Hamilton Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which runs through the city’s downtown center, when he started to have problems staying upright. Thankfully, a group of four William Allen High School students was there to help him along the sidewalk, though eventually the students opted to call an ambulance to help the old man.

A passerby caught the entire exchange on video, and later the clip was uploaded to Facebook where it went viral. Plenty of strangers from all over the world have taken to the internet to thank the students for their good deed, with many repeating the sentiment that the world needs more young adults like these William Allen students.

“Now the parents should be proud of these young teens. They were brought up right to show respect and compassion. May God bless them all,” Bob Bond wrote on YouTube.

According to Yahoo News, NBC Philadelphia later identified the man as Jim, an 88-year-old. The outlet further reported that it was one of the warmest days of the year when Jim, who was having trouble finding his way home, began to overheat.

Both of these stories show the importance of not only respecting our elders but also helping them when they’re in need.

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What do you think of filial piety? How have you shown respect for your elders? Let us know — and be sure to pass this story on.