Lesson from a 5-year-old: What Josiah Duncan’s story teaches us about charity

When 5-year-old Josiah Duncan noticed a ragged-looking man outside of the Prattville, Alabama Waffle House at which he and his mom were eating, he was moved to compassion. He asked his mom, Ava Faulk, about the man and she explained that he was homeless. Then she answered Josiah’s questions about homelessness – a concept that was both foreign and alarming to the youngster.

So, he convinced his mom to buy the homeless man a meal.

You can read the full story here.

What I love most about this story is that Josiah acted on the stirrings of his heart and his mother was wise enough to encourage the boy’s generosity. The fact that Josiah was moved to such compassion and charity is remarkable. Even more remarkable, I think, was that his mom caught on and used the situation as a teaching moment and opportunity to foster the virtue of charity in her son.

I wonder how many of us would have encouraged our own youngster to look the other way – to ignore and then forget about the homeless man. Or, how many of us on our own would have turned our heads?