I took the inspiration and most of the lines from a post I saw on ‘Not Always Right’ which usually shows cases of customers acting stupidly. It made me feel better just reading this one:

(I am shelving DVDs in a library when a man comes in with a boy who appears to be autistic. The boy sees a movie about Thanksgiving)

Boy: “Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving! I’m thankful… I’m thankful for… I’m thankful for my friends at school!”

Caretaker: “You’re thankful for your friends at school?”

Boy: “Yeah! Yeah and… and… what are you thankful for? Are you thankful for your friends?”

Caretaker: no response

Boy: “Are you thankful for me?”

Caretaker: “I’m thankful for you, kid. I’m more thankful for you than all my friends in the world.”

Boy: smiles

…..
So really it isn’t mine at all. I just wanted to share it. I hope there really is more kindness like this in the world.

It’s interesting how different people take away from a story different things, isn’t it? Where you focused nearly exclusively on the boy, I find that the caretaker is equally deserving of consideration here as well. In the original story, there is only one act of kindness. In your version, there are two and I think you disregarded the second one, the hug given to a potentially friendless man, entirely.

Your take on the original story leaves most of the source material intact, and adds a small amount of original material of your own. I realize that you ran very close to the character limit, but I would really have preferred to see you make this story your own.

aww! though its not a cure, its nice to see them interact. I work(ed) with many many kids with autism.