The nomadic cameraman’s honest interaction with a homeless man went viral on TikTok after the former invited the latter to dine with him in his car.
On February 1, Phillip Vu, a recent college graduate and former bank analyst, posted a video in which he and the 46-year-old man – identified only as Mike – shared stories while having dinner together in the car.
Vu explained that Mike, who attends Mamoun’s Falafel on the outskirts of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, has offered to clean his car windows in freezing weather. So, Vu bought him dinner and invited him to sit in his car.
What the college graduate “never expected”, however, was for the two to open up.
“How did you end up being homeless?” Vu asks Mike in a TikTok that has received over 1.7 million views.
Mike responds by saying that his mother passed away, forcing him to survive alone.
“I do what I have to do,” he says. “I walk around and ask people if I can refuel, clean their windows, earn money honestly.”
Mike then asks Vu about himself, to which Vu reveals that he lost one of his parents.
“When I was younger, my father passed away,” says Vu. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I just finished college, so I went on a world tour. I just live in my car, I play guitar everywhere. “
In a follow-up TikTok, Mike says his mother passed away about a year ago.
“I’m still fighting the fight,” he says. “Things happen in life that you can’t stop.”
In response, Vu then shares a deeply personal story in which he came across a motionless man in the middle of a street at Christmas, while it was raining.
“I’ll run over there,” says Vu. “The guy has no color in his eyes. It was completely white. I’ve never seen anyone overdosed before. He had no arm. I’m pumping your chest, and the ambulance arrives and they just take you away. I don’t know why it was so sad because it was Christmas and he should be with his family, if he has a family. “
After Vu tells Mike that he called his friends to deal with what he saw, Mike gives some wise words.
“God sent him like this,” he says to the California native. “You have a good spirit in your heart.”
Mike then tries to assure Vu by saying that he “may have saved [the man’s] life.”
“I may have saved his life,” says Vu, looking at the camera. “I have been blaming myself for this situation for a month. I thank Mike for changing my perspective. “
A longer version of Vu’s interaction with Mike – which was posted on YouTube a day later – shows the two of them engaging in a nearly 10-minute conversation. At one point, Mike tells Vu that he usually sleeps at his friends’ house. He also adds that, on his best days, he makes about $ 15 offering to help others.
Since then, social media users have praised the two men’s open conversation.
“This is so amazing,” commented a TikTok user.
“This is so inspiring,” added another. “Like, seriously, you’re showing that there are still good people in the world, please continue to spread goodness.”
Vu started a GoFundMe to benefit Mike, where he raised more than $ 3,100.
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Originally published