Unknown Hero

I'm 13 years old and in eighth grade. A little while ago, I was walking home from school and saw some writing on a fence of a house I was passing. It said, "Happiness is a direction, not a destination." I had been having a bad day and just reading this brightened my day a little. I saw the quote every day while walking home from school and one day decided to write something on the fence for someone else to see. I took out a Sharpie and wrote one of my favorite quotes down. When I came back to the fence, I saw another quote under mine in the same handwriting as the first one. I added on another, and we kept at this pattern for quite a while. One day, I was writing yet another quote on the fence and the old man, one of my neighbors, who owned the fence saw me. He came out and I was afraid he would be mad at me for writing on his fence; he was not known to be a very friendly person. He gave me a sharp glance and then read the quotes on the fence, all 20 or so of them. Without saying a word, he grunted and then went back inside. I was a bit terrified for a while, afraid to go back to the fence, but when I did, I noticed not more quotes but two words in entirely different handwriting had been added: "Thank you."

Later, I saw the old man in his front yard. He beckoned me over and told me how my quotes had been inspiring to him and how he's glad to see young people still have "values," which made me think of this website. We are now good friends instead of just my elderly neighbor, and I talk to him a lot and do chores for him. This experience has changed my life. I still don't know who wrote that very first quote, but if you're out there, I'd like to say thank you to that unknown hero.