A boy’s simple habit of waving to his neighbors transformed his community
CONCORD, North Carolina – Not many kids crave connection as much as 4-year-old Roman Butzlaff. If you pass by his home in Concord, North Carolina, he’ll be sure to greet you with a wave and a “hello.”
“He wakes up every day excited to say ‘hello’ to someone, like it’s the first thing he wants to do,” his mother, Anna Butzlaff, told CBS News.
However, he still said that Roman’s cheerfulness hid the loneliness inside him for a long time. About a year ago his parents separated. His father moved to Florida and his grandparents also lived out of state.
But fortunately, the seeds of goodness he planted began to blossom. It all started with Wade Fulgum, who lived across the street from Roman.
Fulgum went to meet the boy who always waved. They started doing things together. Eventually other neighbors followed suit. They stopped and chatted and even participated in activities such as drag racing on the street.
Anna Butzlaff said it was a little strange at first, as she barely knew any of these people.
“I didn’t really know how to take it,” he said. “I saw my son was happy.”
So when Roman started inviting many different neighbors to football, basketball and baseball games, he obliged. Other neighbors came to swim lessons and even the kindergarten open house.
When it came time for her birthday party, Anna Butzlaff knew the only people she had to invite were her elderly neighbor friends.
“He loves having us there and will run up and hug us,” one neighbor said.
“They made such an impact on him,” Anna Butzlaff said. “They are truly special people to him.”
Today, the refrigerator is full of pictures of people that Roman cares about very much. His mother says the loneliness inside him is gone.
And the “love thy neighbor” attitude is becoming more prevalent. The novel has now brought together about a dozen neighbors who say they would barely know each other if it weren’t for that little boy who lived in a neighborhood but needed a village.
A neighbor said: “Look what this little boy did.”
Another added: “If the world were like this child, what a wonderful, wonderful place it would be.”
