Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is no stranger to being an inspirational figure. While we all have different views on the dude, it’s impossible not to be moved by the stories of how he’s helped other people (and animals) deal with difficult, and even life-threatening situations. Back in the summer of 2015, Johnson was reunited with a young man whose dream was to meet him, and tell him face to face how he’d helped him cope with his long and painful battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Now, Johnson got to find out firsthand how one simple act had an amazing impact someone else’s life.
Johnson relays that while on the set of his HBO series Ballers, he was told that someone on the security team had a story for him. Via The Rock’s Instagram:
He told me in 2008 when I was taking my mom to get her weekly chemotherapy and radiation cancer treatments, he was taking his dad, Jesus Arias at the same time – who had been diagnosed with the same cancer as my mom. He said, “You won’t remember this but we walked into the hospital at the same time and you turned around, smiled and held the door open for my dad… and you have no idea what that moment meant to him. And me.”
Officer Arias shared with me that he’d been waiting years to tell me that on that day, after I shook his dad’s hand and told him to stay strong, that his dad felt no pain that day. And was once again was a happy man and pain free. Even if just for one day. Jesus Arias passed away from cancer later that year, but his life continues to tell an inspiring story.
Johnson admonishes us to take care of each other, and finishes the story by reminding us that “it’s often the littlest things we do in life that can make the BIGGEST difference.” So basically, The Rock says know your role, and be nice to someone today. Come on, do you really want to fight him on this one?
