Sometimes, we witness unexpected moments between strangers. And when it comes to sweet gestures and words of thanks exchanged between two people who have just met, it’s amazing to witness.
The passengers of one flight were lucky enough to witness such an exchange when an airline employee sang a song for a mother of one fallen soldier. She was on her way to attend a ceremony in honor of her son when she was gifted with such a rare gesture.
Facebook/Arizona Fraternal Order of Police
Sean Warren was on a flight to Louisville and he was getting himself comfortable. He didn’t want to be disturbed, so he put on his headphones and was listening to his playlist—until one of the airline’s employees disturbed his solitude with a message that gave him a pleasant surprise.
Scott Wirt, Operations Agent at Southwest Airlines, made an announcement on the flight. He said that there was a mother on board—a mother whose son had passed in the line of duty on July 25, 2018.
Arizona Trooper Tyler Edenhofer and his mother, Debbie, were close. He graduated from Jeffersontown High School in Louisville, Kentucky. Debbie was actually on her way to attend a ceremony in honor of her son. A bench was to be dedicated to Tyler in Skyview Park in Jeffersontown.
Facebook/Sean Warren
When Scott learned about that he gave Debbie an extremely sweet gesture. He sang “You Raise Me Up” to the woman as all the passengers were seated. The song, originally performed by Secret Garden and popularized by Josh Groban and Westlife, brought the passengers to tears.
Sean Warren, who was among those who witnessed the touching scene, decided to take a video of Scott’s performance. Now, that video has gone viral. This wasn’t the first time Scott’s gestures have gone viral on social media. In 2015, he performed a song while waiting for the plane to takeoff. That video had 190,000 views.
Facebook/Sean Warren
This performance, meanwhile, was uploaded by Sean on his Facebook account and it has now garnered more than 110,000 views. Many people left comments that praised Scott’s gesture and paid tribute to the service of Debbie’s son. It was certainly an unexpected gesture on Scott’s part, but it was nonetheless highly appreciated.
Debbie considered Tyler her whole world and the loss was a crushing one. But it’s the gratitude and support of people like Scott that give more meaning to Tyler’s life and the memories he left behind. Hopefully Scott will keep doing what he’s doing–inspiring and supporting people who have lost loved ones.
No doubt the passengers on Debbie’s flight will talk about this long after the plane landed in Kentucky.
