A nomadic videographer’s honest interaction with a man who experienced homelessness went viral on TikTok after the former invited him to dinner with him in his car.
On February 1, Phillip Vu, a recent university and former banking analyst, posted a video in which he and the 46-year-old man – identified only as Mike – told stories while eating together in the car.
Vu explained that Mike, who regularly visits Mamoun’s Falafel outside Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, offered to clean his car windows in the icy weather. So, Vu bought him food and invited him to sit in his car.
What the colleagues never “expected”, however, was that the two would open up to each other.
“How did you end up homeless?” Vu asks Mike in a TikTok that has since received more than 1.7 million views.
Mike responds by saying that his mother passed away and forced him to survive alone.
“I do what I have to do,” he says. “I walk around asking people if I can pump their gas, do their windows, earn honest money.”
Mike then asks Vu about himself, whereupon Vu reveals that he has lost a parent.
“When I was younger, my dad passed away,” Vu says. “I did not know what I was doing. I had just finished university, so I traveled the world. I just live in my car, play guitar everywhere. ”
In a follow-up TikTok, Mike says that his mother passed away about a year ago.
“I’m still fighting the battle,” he says. “Things happen in life that you can’t stop.”
In response, Vu then shares a deeply personal story in which he encountered a motionless man in the middle of a street while it was raining at Christmas.
“I’m running there,” Vu said. “The man has no color in his eyes at all. It was completely white. I have never seen anyone overdose. He had no arm. I pump his chest, and the ambulance comes and they just take him away. I do not know why it was really sad because it was Christmas and he had to be with his family if he has family. ”
After Vu tells Mike that he called his friends to go with what he saw, Mike gives a few wise words.
“God sent you like that,” he tells the Californian. “You have a good spirit in your heart.”
Mike then tries to reassure Vu by saying that he ‘might have saved [the man’s] life. ”
“I may have saved his life,” Vu said, looking at the camera. ‘I have been worrying about this situation for the past month. Thanks to Mike for changing my perspective. ”
A long version of Vu’s interaction with Mike – which was posted on YouTube a day later – shows the two having a nearly ten-minute conversation. At one point, Mike tells Vu that he often sleeps with his friends. He also adds that on his best days he offers about $ 15 to help others.
Social media users, meanwhile, praised the two men’s open conversation.
“It’s so wonderful,” said one TikTok user.
“It’s so inspiring,” another added. “As you seriously show that there are still good people in the world, please spread kindness.”
Vu has since started a GoFundMe to benefit Mike, where he has raised more than $ 3,100.
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The post A university graduate struggled with a traumatic memory until he invited a stranger into his car, first appearing in In The Know.
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