Footage from a doorbell camera in Amarillo, Texas has gone viral for the most precious reason.
Shayden Walker, 11, was on a mission to make some friends. Little did he know that ringing a neighbor’s doorbell would change his life and inspire others to be kind to everyone they meet.
“I was wanting to see if you knew any kids around 11 or 12 maybe cause I need some friends real bad,” Shayden can be heard saying as he stands on the Rays’ front porch.
Shayden was visiting his grandparents when he decided to visit a neighbor to see if they had any children his age. Unfortunately, they didn’t.
But Brennan Ray, who shared the doorbell video on TikTok, informed the 11-year-old there were children his age next door.
“Well, they’re not my friends anymore because they’re bullies to me,” Shayden replied.
@brennanray Its takes 2 seconds to make someones day, you never know what people are going through until you get a chance to talk to them. This young man is well mannered, kind, and brave. So tiktok can we help shayden make some friends???#fyp #bekind #nobullying #love #kindness #letschangetheworld ♬ original sound – Brennan Ray
Since Ray shared the clip on TikTok it’s been viewed nearly 70 million times.
Shayden’s mother, Krishna Patterson, said her son has also received a massive boost in his confidence.
“He flaps his arms and makes noises that a lot of people have made fun of him, so he told me, ‘I just deal with the pain of holding it in, so I don’t get made fun of because of it,’ and that hurt, that broke my heart,” she said.
“What my life was like before was kids were manipulating me and telling me they would be my friend, but when they would ask me to do something horrible, I don’t feel like they’re actually my friend,” Shayden added.
After sharing his doorbell camera footage to TikTok, Ray set up a GoFundMe that raised nearly $40,000 for Shayden. The boy’s
“It just takes one person, especially if you’re a popular kid, people look up to you, if you can be the one to stand out and help somebody else, set that trend, make that the trend to be set to not be a bully,” Ray said.
Watching this video made me tear up. It breaks my heart to hear how mean kids can be to other children. We need to put an end to bullying.