A little boy in Virginia made his mailman’s day by doing one simple act of kindness. He left a red cooler outside his house with a note on top telling the mailman to help himself. What was inside is just what this mailman needed.

According to MadWorldNews,

While on his regular route through Newport News, Virginia, a mailman noticed a misplaced cooler off to the side of one of the houses. He dropped the mail off at their door and could tell nobody was home when he stopped back at the cooler before leaving, curious about what was inside.

A surveillance camera outside the resident’s home caught the moment the mailman’s curiosity got the best of him. He was seen pulling up to the house, taking notice of the red cooler but delivering the mail to the porch as he always does. With a brief pause, he saw that there was a note on the cooler and decided to crack it open and get a look. Seconds later, he was elbows-deep.

According to WAVY, a little 8-year-old boy who lives at the home wasn’t there that day but had watched the mailman many afternoons before this one, working hard in the heat. Yesterday, temperatures in this neighborhood topped 1oo degrees and knowing that the mailman would faithfully arrive at the same time he always does, the thoughtful boy devised a plan to help him with the rest of his route.

On his own idea, the child filled his family’s cooler with bottles of Gatorade and water and left a note on top for the mailman to help himself. “Mailman: Water and Gatorade in Cooler. Have A Good Day :)” The home surveillance system captured the mailman’s excitement for the refreshing surprise, which the boy’s mom submitted to the news station.

His sweet gesture has since gone viral, inspiring many others in his town and around the country to offer a cold drink to those who work an often thankless and difficult job as a courier. At just 8-years-old, this boy knows more about kindness and generosity than most people three times his age. His compassion is a clear sign of a child who is being raised right.

 

This act of kindness is a great way to pay it forward. Mailmen and women work long hard hours in the hot sun and nobody gives them a second thought. They deliver our mail every day and even know our names and addresses, yet we rarely acknowledge them. Let this kid be an example for the rest of us and let us all try to make someone’s job better today.