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THE HUMANS OF Dublin Facebook page shared this photo last night.

Here’s the story that the man in the photo told:

The turning point of my life was a young girl in 1999 walking by with her boyfriend at Christchurch on New Year’s Eve. It was lashing rain and I was sitting on some concrete steps with my long hair and beard, listening to the bells, wondering where my family were and how they were.

Out of nowhere, the young girl kneeled down in front of me, and like an angel with her blue eyes, said ‘Hi! What’s your name?’ I had to think. Nobody calls you by your name on the streets. ‘It’s Glenn,’ I told her, and she asked ‘What would make you happy Glenn?’ I said ‘I’m okay, I’m happy. I’m in a brave phase. Thanks for asking.’ She went back to her boyfriend and got some cans from him and a pack of cigarettes and handed them to me.

Then she asked again ‘If you could have one wish what would it be?’ I told her I wished to be with my family. ‘So why don’t you go home?’ She asked. I said no, that it’d been too long – three and half years. And she said ‘Just go!’ Just like that. This girl in her late twenties being the wisest person in the world. Then she gave me a kiss on the cheek and wished me a happy New Year.

She’s out there somewhere not knowing what she did that day. You can make a difference in someone’s life that you might never meet again. You have the power. The best thing you can take from this world is the belief that you made a difference. I went home the next day.

The photo – of Glenn Gannon, an actor, writer and now an ambassador for the Simon Community – has been shared almost 2,000 times since last night with more than 13,000 reactions and hundreds of comments.

“Your story should be broadcast around the world,” wrote one person. “Thanks for sharing,” wrote another. “Fair play to that young girl and hats off to you.”

The top comment is from Glenn himself. He writes: “Hello everyone, I am deeply humbled by your generosity of spirit and your kind comments,” adding:

I assure you that I am only one of many homeless people who have managed to turn our lives around.

Happy New Year, Glenn. For more personal stories like this, visit Humans Of Dublin on Facebook, run by photographer Peter Varga.

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