BuzzFeed News talked to the man behind the viral picture, and the backstory is amazing.
This is Paul, with his new Kindle.
A few days ago, an anonymous redditor posted this picture of him, with the caption "I gave this homeless man, Paul, my Kindle after learning that he'd been reading the same book over and over. He hasn't put it down for days". The picture swiftly went viral, so BuzzFeed News reached out to the redditor to find out a little more.
I'm 31 and I work as a reverse engineer for a company who makes IT security appliances. As far as hobbies go, I love to travel and do it quite regularly for work and whenever I can for fun. I also like to climb, run, cycle, ride my motorcycle, go hiking/backpacking/wilderness camping, and I have an unhealthy obsession with board games.
The photo was actually taken a couple of days after I gave him the Kindle – I didn't originally intend to share this with anyone but after seeing him repeatedly and getting so much joy from it, I just had to. I gave it to him knowing that he might sell it, which I wouldn't have blamed him for – people have to eat. Seeing him for a few days after that while I was still in Las Vegas, it brought me so much joy to see him completely absorbed in it.
He wouldn't even look up when I or anyone else walked by unless I got his attention. It made me tear up after the first time I saw him using it the next day after giving it to him – I was so happy to see someone get so much out of something I really took for granted. I'm really hoping that by sharing this, I'll inspire other people to do something nice for someone in need.
I don't know how he ended up homeless, I didn't ask. I mostly just talked to him about reading and how to operate the Kindle. As far as people doing anything for him, I don't have his contact information. He has a lot of people who miss him back home, but I'm going to keep the information about where he's from to myself so he can maintain some privacy. They have reached out to me and there are a large number of people who miss him. The good news is, he'll be back home in the summertime so they don't have to worry much any more. I've gotten the word back to them on that as well.
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A Guy Found A Homeless Man Reading The Same Book Over And Over For Months So He Gave Him His Kindle