Author and TV host Leon Logothetis shares an inspiring story from his world travels about a homeless man named Tony who welcomed him with an open heart. Logothetis says meeting Tony changed his life and taught him an indelible lesson about the beauty of the human connection. This is one of many stories that appears in Logothetis’ new book, “The Kindness Diaries.”

Leon Logothetis: One of the most inspiring stories that I have from my journey around the world was when I met a chap called Tony. I was in Pittsburgh. I had nowhere to stay. I’d asked lots of people to help me and they said no which is fine. I mean I had no expectations for people to help. I spoke to Tony. I said, “Can I stay with you?” And he looked at me and he said, “I’m homeless. I’m sorry but I’m homeless.” And I felt a lot of shame. But then he said to me, “You know what? If you want to come and stay with me I’ll protect you. I’ll feed you. I’ll give you some blankets and that’ll be all good.” And I was in just total shock and I said to him, “Are you being serious?” He’s like, “Absolutely.” So I spent the night on the streets of Pittsburgh with one of the kindest men I’d ever met.

Here was a man that had nothing, literally nothing. He fed me. He protected me and he showed me and opened up my heart. And he was such a kind man and what he did was he showed me that true wealth is not in our wallets but it’s in our hearts. Here was a man that had nothing. I say that again – nothing – and he gave me everything. And he changed my life, truly Tony changed my life. He changed my life. He opened up my heart and he made me realize it’s about human connection. That’s where the true beauty of life is – human connection. Not necessarily what we have in our wallets. You can be the richest man in the world and still be the poorest man in the world. You can be the poorest man in the world and be the richest man in the world.

Directed/Produced by Jonathan Fowler, Elizabeth Rodd, and Dillon Fitton