When exhaustion hits, the one thing we reach for is the pillow. And if you also have children, then it’s likely you wouldn’t be happy to have them woken up. A mom from Indiana was in this exact situation.
Randi Jo Amt was exhausted one evening while staying in a hotel with her family.
Although she would have given anything for some peace and quiet – there were some teenagers being noisy in the hallway.
Many people would have thrown open their hotel door and yelled at the loud teens. But even though Randi Jo was irked, she decided to take a different approach.
You see, the Amt family wasn’t staying in the hotel just for a fun, long vacation. They’d had a flooding issue in their home, so it was more of a “have to” type of situation while things were fixed. Naturally, the family was dealing with a lot of stress!
The mom explained in a Facebook post:
“I was frustrated, but wanted to wait to talk to them when I could tell them about our situation to see if they could show compassion rather than become angry at the lady next door.”
Randi Jo didn’t end up seeing the teens the next morning for a chat. Turns out, they were FFA (Future Farmers of America) members from Kansas, and they had traveled to Indiana for a convention.
On Friday night, the mom noticed that the teens’ room doors were cracked. So, she went to talk with them.
“I let them know about our house being destroyed by water. I told them that we wanted them to have their fun and we would appreciate their respect to let our kids get good rest. The young man who answered the door told me that he was very sorry about what we are going through.”
Randi Jo went back to her hotel room after talking with the group of teens. A little while later, she was left stunned by their next move. She wrote on Facebook:
“Before I went to bed, I noticed a note that someone had slipped under our door. I opened the note to find money.”
The teens had tucked $40 into a folded piece of paper that contained a nice apology message. It said:
“We are more than sorry for waking you and your family up the past few nights. We hope everything goes well with your house.”
The Amts were blown away by the FFA members’ kind-hearted gesture. Randi Jo decided to share the story on Facebook where it quickly went viral. She concluded her post praising the teens.
“In a world where some people sit behind screens and become angry on social media, this young man restored my faith that the next generation can make eye contact and show compassion to the person right in front of him … They set an excellent example for my children and their parents should be more than proud.”
The youngsters were amazed after their act spread across the internet. WTHR even had the chance to interview the group. One of the teens, Tanner Wells, explained:
“I just thought we could do something for them that I think could change their day, brighten up their day a little bit.”
The Amts even decided to pay it forward by using the money to help the homeless! Isn’t kindness such a beautiful thing?
Read Rani Jo’s original post here!