The Teens Who Changed One Man's Mind About Teenagers

Richard Munoz had broken his ankle playing basketball and needed corrective surgery that left him on crutches. Living in an urban area, he had to pass through a park regularly — one that was routinely occupied by groups of teenagers who would loiter after school.

One day, coming home from the corner store with milk, Munoz heard one of the teenagers call something out to him. As a few stood up and began approaching him, he braced himself. Instead, they came to offer help carrying his bags.

He accepted, nervously.

Throughout the rest of his recovery, those same teens became a constant helping hand — taking his garbage out, letting him cut in front of them in line at the store, and regularly checking in to ask if he needed anything.

By the end of his recovery, Munoz wrote a letter to the local school administrators explaining the good deeds of the teenagers and asking that they be recognized for their kindness.

He later reflected that being bullied in high school had left him with lasting wariness around groups of teens. But this experience changed something in him. He realized, he wrote, that those teens "were more than their stereotype."

Originally reported by Good News Network