When students show kindness to their teachers #WATWB

Nathan Neidigk is a Maths teacher at Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico who has had a hard year. Having lost his wife shortly after the birth of their child, heartbreak continued to follow him when a few years later, his three year old son was diagnosed with leukemia.

Looking after his son in the hospital meant he had to be absent from class occasionally. It also meant he wouldn't be able to buy the little one presents for Christmas as all his money went for hospital bills. The students at his class realized this and so each pitched in and surprised him the next time he came to their class.

“We’re aware of your situation and we really want to help you out, so we all got together and we got you this,” they told their teacher, handing him a wrapped package. It turns out the students had bought his son a Nintendo Switch gaming console as well as two games for the young one to play with, leaving Nathan emotional and overjoyed at the same time.

“It was an incredibly generous gesture,” Nathan commented. "They found the opportunity to do something nice and allow my family to have fun moments in time of intense stress.”

You can watch the moment teacher Nathan Neidigk opens his present here.

There is also a fundraiser to help pay the medical bills for his child Mikey's medical bills that has reached over 70% of its target. You can choose to contribute if you wish by clicking here or share the page to support him by letting others know of his young child as well.

Authors note:

This post is part of the We Are the World Blogfest, a monthly event to showcase stories of compassion. 
The hosts for this month are Peter Nena, Eric Lahti, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, Shilpa Garg and myself. The idea is to spread positivity and light to counterbalance the negativity and darkness in socialmedia. You can check their pages to find the list of feel-good stories written by bloggers from around the world.

I chose to tell a story about students because in the wake of the latest school shooting in USA earlier this week in the town of Parkland, what came through was the strength of the young survivors who had lost their friends and classmates. They refused to accept the apologies of the political leaders and demanded more be done to keep them safe.
This next generation may be too young to vote but they have kindness in their heart and resilience in their bones. We need to encourage them to do what we couldn't - be real life heroes of Kindness and Compassion.

Do you want more stories of 'Real-Life Heroes of Kindness and Compassion' from around the world? I have been compiling a list for more than a year now - from small children to elderly women, from waiters to Presidents - you will see that everyone of us is capable of being a hero of kindness to others if we choose to be so. 
You can check them out here.