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NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — With a simple act of kindness, a stranger has inspired thousands of people to find ways to pay it forward.
Last week, Tyson Crawley stopped at a service station near his home in New South Wales, Australia, for gas and some coffee. When he went to pay, he realized he’d opened a new bank account and couldn’t remember his new PIN number.
“After searching through my iPhone bank app to figure out how to reset my pin I had failed,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “My dog was barking wildly, I had to get to work, and I was starting to freak.”
That’s when a man who’d been in front of him in line just minutes before returned to the store and asked Crawley if he needed some money. Crawley adamantly refused, thanking the stranger for the offer but insisting he could pay for the goods himself if he could just remember his PIN.
But the man insisted — ultimately covering Crawley’s $84 (AU$110) bill.
“I was just incredibly overwhelmed,” Crawley told Today. “I couldn’t believe how beautiful and kind people could be.”
Crawley thanked the man profusely, insisting he write down his name and contact information so he could pay him back. He also asked to snap a quick selfie with his Good Samaritan.
The man scribbled something on the receipt, but when Crawley looked at it later, he realized it contained a first name — John — and the message, “Pass it on.”
Crawley was so overwhelmed by the man’s kindness that he shared his experience on Facebook, asking others to follow John’s example.
“Please be beautiful people, and remember it's not about keeping up with the Joneses, having the biggest house, most expensive car, the largest bank account,” he wrote. “After all, what is money compared to the quality of human life?”
The post has more than 1,500 likes and hundreds of shares thus far. Crawley decided to follow John’s lead and returned to the gas station with money to pay for another stranger’s fuel.
“On the back of the receipt, I wrote, ‘Tyson — pass it on,’ the same way John did,” Crawley told Today.
“John” turned out to be American-born John Kennedy Jr. — a hockey player for the Newcastle North Stars, Today reported.
The North Stars responded to Kennedy’s act of kindness on its Facebook page.
“We’re not surprised that our champion defenseman John Kennedy Jr. was generous enough to pay this man’s (bill)… as we know his quality of character,” the post reads. “We’re proud you’re one of our North Stars community, JFK! We hope to continue on following your example.”
