As we go about our days working, much of our time is spent looking forward to the time when we get off. This is normal. We work to make our “real life” happen. Our life with our family and friends. Our personal life. One man, however, goes above and beyond at his work and doesn’t seem to be thinking about anything but the people he’s helping and the difference he’s making.
Lindon Beckford is a patient transporter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He was recently filmed doing his work and the video has gone viral, making Linden’s simple love and concern for people a sensation. Watch this video:
Lindon has been doing this for 30 years now and he says he’ll never stop doing it.
“I was always singing as a child growing up, so it was a natural thing. It was more for my comfort. I was always around music, so I did that just to comfort myself. Then all of a sudden, I realized people were listening to me.”
If you’ve ever been in a hospital being transferred from one room to another, you know that these transfers are boring and tedious at best, with the attendants speaking minimally to you. At worst, you may be heading into a terrifying surgery. Imagine having someone sing a song to you. It would immediately alleviate your fears just a bit and lighten your heart a little.
When Lindon first meets up with a patient, he says “My name is Linden and I’ll be your chauffeur.” Then he begins to sing.
“From the moment I meet up with a patient, I try to make sure it’s going to be unusual. Depending on the conversation that I hear, is the patient in pain? What song can I sing to relieve them?
“At the end, when I get them to their procedure or back to their room, they tell me ‘you made this trip here so much easier.'”
He recalls a time when a woman started singing with him and it was so moving to him. He said that’s happened a few times.
It’s so heartwarming that people like Lindon are out there making a difference. It’s such a small thing to do, but it can mean everything in the world to someone who’s facing fear.
All images via YouTube video screengrab