'I'm Watching a Miracle Right Now': Grocer's Kindness Toward Autistic Teen Goes Viral

At a time when snark and sarcasm seem to be the order of the day, the thoughtful actions of a Louisiana supermarket worker towards an autistic teen are serving as a refreshing reminder that compassion and kindness aren't dead.

Jack Ryan Edwards, 17, and his father, Sid Edwards, were visiting Rouses Market in Baton Rouge when the elder Edwards noticed his autistic son had become fixated with one of the store's employees who was stocking groceries.

The employee, 20-year-old Jordan Taylor, also took notice.

"Something in the back of my mind was just like, 'Ask if he wants to help you,'" Taylor told WAFB.

Happy to oblige, the teen – affectionately called "Ziggy" by his family – then spent the next 30 minutes helping Taylor stack shelves.

Ziggy's father, who initially thought his son just wanted a bottle of juice, was awed by the incident, which was caught on tape.

"It was a big deal," CNN quoted the elder Edwards. "To me, when you go to a grocery store with an autistic kid, especially when they're young, people don't understand, they're not very accepting."

"Somehow this young man reached my son...he went into Jack Ryan's world," he noted.

Jack's sister, Delaney Edwards Alwosaibi, was equally moved by the young grocery worker's act of kindness.

"He could have ignored him. He could have made an excuse and said he couldn't allow him to help. Instead, he let him have his moment and in turn gave my family a moment we will never forget," said Alwosaibi.

Meanwhile, Taylor has become a social media sensation, with video of the incident going viral. So far, the footage has been shared 8,000 times and had 14,000 likes on Facebook.

"You can hear my dad say in the video, 'I'm watching a miracle right now,'" Ziggy's sister writes in her Facebook post.

"I've just been crying happy tears for hours and I'm in shock at the response the video has gotten," she said. "There's so much ugly in this world we live in, but today gave me a swift kick and reminder that there are still great people out there. Humble people, kind people, patient people, accepting people."

Meanwhile, Jordan is reaping an unexpected blessing from his act of kindness. The store clerk has expressed a desire to go back to school, and he's getting an outpouring of support from people on social media who want to help him realize his dream.

"I know Jordan mentioned he wants to go back to school. My mom and I are both special education teachers and I have to say, if he does go on to go to college, I might put a bug in his ear to pursue that path because people like my brothers and my students need people like him around," said Alwosaibi, who has started a GoFundMe page for him.

"Jordan showed that, and all of the kind comments have proven it even further," Alwosaibi continued. "You have this young man who took the time out of his day to make a stranger's day better. He could have completed his work quicker, but he didn't care. That's true character in my book."

Meanwhile, Taylor told WAFB, "I was just happy that I could make someone else happy and make their day."