r/MadeMeSmile
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u/mindyour
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Jan 22 '23
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Magician finds a way to make visually impaired man experience the magic. Wholesome Moments
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u/KevinLiMagic
Jan 22 '23
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Thanks for sharing! It is my duty to share magic with everyone and I’m excited to continue finding more inclusive ways of doing so.
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u/mindyour Jan 22 '23
It was wonderful to see, and it made me smile. Also, got me to think of experiences that people with disabilities miss out on. As you said, everyone deserves to experience magic.
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u/crackerbarreldudley Jan 23 '23
My Dad had bad visual problems, and he would have thought this was so awesome. You're bringing such joy to the world, one person at a time. Thank you for your spirit and compassion (and magic)!
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u/pc124448 Jan 23 '23
Paula here from high school, good to see you getting more and more recognition for you passion in magic :)
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u/IceFaery12 Jan 23 '23
As a visually impaired person myself, this brought me to tears. Its incredibly heartwarming and thoughtful what you did. Thank you for making magic accessible for this gentleman. Blind folk are too often disregarded in circumstances such as this and you made it a point to include him. Thank you.
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u/futur1stfella Jan 23 '23
Great trick, Kevin. I loved seeing your first performance on Fool Us where you made Teller cry. Glad to see you can reach all kinds with your magic!
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u/johnnyjinkle Jan 22 '23
Hey I saw you perform (virtually, during covid) for an event at my old work! You're awesome!
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u/YmmaT- Jan 23 '23
Guys, the trick to this is that Kevin is an actual wizard. Dont try to bend the coin with your palm, it won’t work.
Trust me, I tried.
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u/Jennietals Jan 23 '23
Have you performed at Magic Castle? I feel like I met you there a couple years back. Love that place! Keep up the incredible work. Happy lunar year!
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u/Wage_slave Jan 22 '23
Blind guy: You have no power here
Good Guy Kevin Li: Hold my quarter
That was awesome.
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u/habibi5t Jan 22 '23 edited Jan 23 '23
He is brilliant! Check this video of his out https://youtu.be/6i-AzpMT2t4 It will blow your mind and change your life forever! (Disclaimer:It is kinda long but every minute is worth it!!!)
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u/Wage_slave Jan 22 '23
Alright, that was pretty cool. I'm loving that everything he's doing is in a big open room and people practically surrounding him.no props or places to drop or hide. It's just Kevin killing it.
And Rae, that girl is an anime character brought to life.
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u/daffydubs Jan 22 '23
Bad guy Devin Xi: “now WATCH closely!”
Blind guy: “I told you I can’t see”
BGDX: “for my next trick, I will disappear!”
BGDX slowly tip toes quietly out of the room
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u/rikkuaoi Jan 22 '23
Inclusion is a big deal. This was awesome
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u/Walter_Stonkite Jan 22 '23 edited Jan 22 '23
Facts! Witnessing inclusion, where one might’ve feared its absence, is an absolute joy.
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u/llamallama29 Jan 22 '23
Right? It was heartbreaking when the guy said “the magic won’t work on me” we all deserve a little magic.
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u/Walter_Stonkite Jan 22 '23
“The magic won’t work on me!”
proceeds to get absolutely destroyed by magic 🥲
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u/MauiWowieOwie Jan 22 '23
“The magic won’t work on me!”
makes him be able to see.
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u/JaxandMia Jan 22 '23
I wonder how many times people have said “You’re right “ and walked away previously. Not just magicians, but people on the regular. So nice to see him included.
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u/CornCheeseMafia Jan 22 '23
Not only was he a sweetheart, he’s a MF professional.
Look at his face in the beginning. You can see him thinking of what trick to do because he’s imagining the perspective that would work through blind eyes. He chose a trick that didn’t require any sight. The only requirement was that he maintain physical contact with the item.
What an incredibly thoughtful dude.
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u/DinoRoman Jan 22 '23
I cry Everytime I see that post of the little girl whose blind jumping for joy because she got Harry Potter the full book series in Braille.
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u/SusieHolloway2 Jan 22 '23
People who are blind can be very visual, even without being able to see. You can visualize things in your mind with your imagination, with touch, and sound.
I make accessible material for people with disabilities in higher education and frequently work with people who are blind and a lot of complex concepts (STEM) need to be conveyed visually to be fully understood.
I was working with one blind student who was getting a CS degree and he told me, "as weird as it sounds I'm a very visual learner and need to be able to feel things to really understand them." We produced a lot of tactile graphics for him and even some 3D models when he was in a geology course so he could better understand the concepts visually.
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u/Such_Voice Jan 22 '23
I never thought of how you'd be a visual learner and blind, this is super interesting. Thanks! :)
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u/habibi5t Jan 22 '23 edited Jan 23 '23
If you are looking for his full performance …https://youtu.be/6i-AzpMT2t4
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u/kenney99 Jan 22 '23
What a beautiful act of kindness
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u/Freaudinnippleslip Jan 22 '23
I mean he just gave him 25¢, you would think he could spare a dollar with a snazzy suit like that
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u/CPZ500 Jan 22 '23
I bet he started working and plan out to have a few extra tricks up his sleeve after this. And what a guy!
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u/Whit3Mex Jan 22 '23
You can tell at the start when he learned the guy couldn't see, that he was thinking up a trick on the spot that he could modify so the guy could still experience some part of it. That's a master at work right there
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u/habibi5t Jan 22 '23
Truly a master ! Watch this performance of his https://youtu.be/6i-AzpMT2t4
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u/That-Ad-4978 Jan 22 '23
Damn it that is touching. What an amazing person that magician is!
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u/unoojo Jan 22 '23
It had to be touching. He’s blind.
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u/cheesymoonshadow Jan 22 '23
I have seen many give out theirs before, but this is my first legit r/Angryupvote.
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u/handsupdb Jan 22 '23
This is the spirit of accessibility. See how the blind man gets the magic, but so do we? Everyone gets to enjoy this trick.
Not everything can easily be done this way at all but it's really important to think about if you want to make something truly accessible to all, it's not just about cutting corners for others.
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u/Pirate_Lantern Jan 22 '23
What's the Tiktok name? I can't read it.
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u/Captain--Hawk Jan 22 '23
I don't know either of them but that was very wholesome, he could've just accepted the fact that he's blind and move on but he gave him something to remember
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u/schnokobaer Jan 22 '23
The way his face turns to thinking mode and he immediately comes up with an inclusive trick. THAT is magic.
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u/armoured_bobandi Jan 22 '23
But...how?
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u/imgrandojjo Jan 22 '23
I think he switched coins at the last second before putting it in his hand?
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u/antoniodiavolo Jan 22 '23
I do this trick fairly often and believe it or not, its the exact same coin. You could check the year and everything.
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u/Korach Jan 22 '23
Is the coin made from a metal that gets bendy at a low heat?
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u/antoniodiavolo Jan 22 '23
Kevin provided his own quarters here but you can borrow someone’s coin and do this trick. Nothing is ever switched out.
I will say, you can’t really do this with nickels or those bitmetallic coins
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u/Korach Jan 22 '23
I’ll just live in the mystery. :)
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u/antoniodiavolo Jan 22 '23
Trust me, the answer is probably far less interesting than what you might imagine it is. The mystery is much more fun.
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u/pm-me-unicorns Jan 22 '23
I once saw a quote from Teller saying that the trick with magic is that the real answer is usually one that would make people wonder why someone would spend so much time and effort to create a seemingly simple effect.
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u/MrIndigo382 Jan 22 '23
I like to imagine you wearing that “magics mysteries revealed” mask when typing the tricks explanation
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u/Shendare Jan 22 '23
And after he sees how the real quarter was marked, he spends a fair amount of time with his right hand reached back behind him while talking. He's likely trying to mark the rubbery coin similarly in preparation for palming it into the recipient's hand in exchange for the hard one.
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u/_iridian_ Jan 22 '23
gallium coin?
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u/BoopinSnoots24-7 Jan 22 '23
Another user replied with a link to the special “sharpie” used to bend coins. If you look closely at about 0:34, he bends the second coin then later swaps them when placing the coin in his palm.
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u/Aerisar Jan 22 '23
Idk I’m leaning towards coating the coin, but not knowledgeable enough to think of what.
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u/PM_ME_YUR_S3CRETS Jan 22 '23
He has a watch on. Are there blind people watches that change in braille? Or are verbal?
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u/LessRemoved Jan 22 '23
Both i believe
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u/WeHaveAllBeenThere Jan 22 '23
If it’s smart watch he can just talk into it. (Idk what kind of watch it is)
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u/becausehumor Jan 22 '23
my grandmother was blind and had a watch that told her the time out loud when she pressed a button.
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u/EverythingGoodWas Jan 22 '23
My mom was blind, she had the same thing. Blind people still want to know the time.
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u/1i_rd Jan 22 '23
My uncle was blind and he taught me to call the number to get the time and weather.
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u/VainestClown Jan 22 '23
Grandma is blind. I remember seeing a watch that she had that the cover basically opened and she could feel the hands of a normal analog clock.
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u/unctuous_homunculus Jan 22 '23
My old coworker was blind and said smart watches were the best invention for him. He could ask them what time it was, they read texts to him, he could always tell how they were oriented so he could memorize button layouts, and you can have them unlock based on your wrist gesture. Maybe less features but more accessible for him as a blind person. Wouldn't surprise me if that was a smartwatch.
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u/SpecialAF Jan 22 '23
Not blind but I have an Eone Bradley watch that uses a magnetic ball and raised notches to tell you the time. Real good design
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u/fuckfuckfuckSHIT Jan 22 '23
I looked it up and that is really cool! Is it easy for the balls to become out of place when touching them though? If they do come out of place, do they go back to where they are supposed to or does the whole thing have to be redone/reset?
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u/ONegUniversalDonor Jan 22 '23 edited Jan 22 '23
I remember in grade school, a blind guy came to visit our class. He brought some different things that he used to help him adapt. This was before cell phones and mainstream internet. He had a wrist watch with a hinged crystal that would open up so that he could just touch the hands to tell the time. I'm sure it was a special watch. I remember it very distinctly because a couple of the kids were manhandling that watch when we were just supposed to look at it and pass it along.
The next day, I was riding the bus to school and I looked over to see the blind guy driving a yellow convertible in the next lane. I knew it was him because he had on that wrist watch.
Edit: They are called braille watches.
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u/find_the_good Jan 22 '23
How can I learn to do this? Seriously. I have some DeafBlind friends that would love this!
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u/MichaelKilo Jan 22 '23
So at https://www.penguinmagic.com/ you can buy tricks.
They don’t have a section for magic tricks the visually impaired will enjoy but you can watch the previews and figure out what will work. They have plenty of tricks under 10 dollars.
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u/JumpsIntoTheVolcano Jan 22 '23
I shop here. Can confirm it's valid and the gimmicks are authentic.
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u/tecampanero Jan 22 '23
Don't put it in your pocket, sir. Don't put it in your pocket. It's your lucky quarter.
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u/seleneVamp Jan 22 '23
blind guy: im blind your magic wont work as i cant see it.
Magician: ready, and poof you can see.
blind guy: omg i can see
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u/melloinseattle Jan 23 '23
Hi all, wow, what a day, when you make the front page of the Internet!
My name is Mike Mello, and I am the blind man that Kevin Li recorded in this video.
This was not fabricated I was at the Google MTV holiday party hanging out with some coworkers having food and a drink when I learned that a magician was in the room, he (Kevin) approached my table, and asked me if he could do a trick for me. I told him sure, but I am totally blind, so… this may be hard. He was up for that challenge and the video is what you see here! I have know idea how he did it, I could literally feel it bend in my hand!!!
Kevin and I have already discussed this offline, but I was not aware he was recording video, so I would ask, anyone reading this, please! Make sure folks know you are recording them first. I am so happy to share the trick, and my reaction, but I was just hanging out at my work holiday party 😊
If folks have questions for me, feel free to hit me up mikemello [at] google.com
Remember accessibility is just as easy as this magic trick, or even making sure that your software has accessibility included from the start!
I am humbled by this experience, but just remember, I am just like everyone else and want to have fun at my work holiday party!!!
-Mike Mello
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u/exbarkeep Jan 22 '23
“…so, the magic won’t work for me, but it’s ok”
Don’t care ‘how’ the trick worked, it did.
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u/driftwood-and-waves Jan 22 '23
That's awesome. He didn't even hesitate. This is just so cool and kind and he's like nbd but for someone it could be a memory for life.
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u/Method__Man Jan 22 '23
this man is a true W for humanity
He really did help this other guy "feel the magic"
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u/aspz Jan 22 '23
In case anyone is wondering what the trick is. The quarter is revealed to be bent at 90 degrees. If I understand correctly, it's not a trick coin either so you can't easily bend it back. No idea how it's done.
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u/ThePolarityOfItAll Jan 22 '23
Composit alloy coin(possibly made partially of Gallium) that softens under low levels of heat.
Fucking awesome.
That coin probably wasn’t cheap at all, and he gave it to him. The best part is he didn’t tell him how it work, so now as far as guy is concerned he’s just got a magic coin that softens when you hold it tight.
Be still my heart…
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u/antoniodiavolo Jan 22 '23
I do this trick all the time and the coin can be legitimately borrowed. It’s never switched out.
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u/ThePolarityOfItAll Jan 22 '23
Wait, this trick can be done with a legitimate US quarter borrowed from a random spectator? If so, that’s even more incredible and must have something to do with psychology.
Sorry for stupid questions, I don’t practice or really follow magic.
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u/antoniodiavolo Jan 22 '23
Yes it can. And there’s a bit of psychology. I won’t give anything away because the answer is kinda lame but I will say that the coin “heating up and feeling softer” is mostly a placebo. It’s a really clever trick and there’s a couple versions of it out there but all of them can use a legitimately borrowed and signed coin that isn’t switched out at any point
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u/Embrasse-moi Jan 22 '23
Oh this is Kevin Li! I was watching a livestreamer and he was a guest for her birthday. Really entertaining and talented. https://youtu.be/sf_0eS1dyzc (He gets introduced around 34:08 mark) My fav was the last trick he did which freaked everyone out lol
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u/Same-Reason-8397 Jan 22 '23
It’s not just about how the trick works but how he makes the magic work for this man. I’m in love with this magician.
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u/giantyetifeet Jan 22 '23
More people will unfortunately experience blindness in their old age than ever expect to. Being blind seems UNTHINKABLE to the vast majority of younger Reddit users here. And yet, so many people will lose much or all of their sight in their old age due to health issues. It's not talked about enough and I wish there were more resources directed at finding a cure.
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u/OptimalRevolution901 Jan 22 '23
Love this ! The voice of the man when he said ‘it won’t work on me’ made me quite sad.
On the other hand, when the magician said ‘visualise this’ - I was like goddamn it Greg!
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u/Ok_Dog_4059 Jan 22 '23
This was really great and maybe the first time this man has experienced magic.
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u/pc124448 Jan 23 '23
This kid went to my high school (Rowland High) and he was always kind and polite to everyone. Good to see him getting more and more recognition:)
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u/Whushe433 Jan 22 '23
"Visualise" your hand getting warmer, the man says
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u/mantolwen Jan 22 '23
Blind people use "see" and "visualise" all the time. They are not offended by the word. I am engaged to a blind person and have other blind friends.
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u/bobslazypants Jan 22 '23
People who are blind can be very visual, even without being able to see. You can visualize things in your mind with your imagination, with touch, and sound.
I make accessible material for people with disabilities in higher education and frequently work with people who are blind and a lot of complex concepts (STEM) need to be conveyed visually to be fully understood.
I was working with one blind student who was getting a CS degree and he told me, "as weird as it sounds I'm a very visual learner and need to be able to feel things to really understand them." We produced a lot of tactile graphics for him and even some 3D models when he was in a geology course so he could better understand the concepts visually.
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u/shadowstar617401 Jan 22 '23
However it was done, I love that the magician found a way to make his act inclusive. I love magicians in general but this was wonderful
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u/Milk_Mindless Jan 22 '23
You blind? NOT GONNA STOP ME FROM GIVING YOU A MINDFUCK
Great job magician man
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u/_Pandach_ Jan 22 '23
At Cheesecake Factory as a server I did magic for a deaf couple. I wrote down everything from my introduction to what I was doing.
Pretty much I would have them shake up a bunch of dice and I'd guess the number and then at the end of it they would physically choose the number - they loved it!!!!
- Also, fuck working at Cheesecake Factory. Place is disgusting full of terrible people. Happy I moved on to better places in the industry.
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u/stevestuc Jan 22 '23
It's such a relief to see good people going out of their way to help people in whatever way they can I saw a fast food employee actually feeding a client who was blind, apparently it was a regular thing that had created a friendship,( much appreciated by the blind man who had no friends outside the disabled group he went to) and, a young girl on a plane who noticed a passenger having trouble communicating with the flight attendant,he was blind and deaf and limited speech... as part of her university courses she was required to have a second language, she chose to learn to sign and luckily the alphabet on fingers and hands. Not only did she explain his needs and what was expected in take off and landing, she spent the whole flight keeping him company and answering the questions he had difficult to explain, Neither of them asked for praise , they just did what was the best for someone in need. The world needs more people like this
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u/scottonaharley Jan 22 '23
This actually was such and act of kindness on the part of the magician. If only we could all have the level of empathy that he showed.
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u/Magzz521 Jan 22 '23
I think that the Magician switched out the coins as he placed it in the man’s palm. Smoke from up his sleeve. No matter what, he was brilliant to include the man in this presentation.
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u/BeerNcheesePlz Jan 22 '23
Aw I love this magician for doing that and letting him keep the coin. So cute
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u/b_pilgrim Jan 22 '23
Man I just love magic. I know deep down that there's an explanation for how each thing works, but forgetting all of that and suspending reality for a moment is pure joy, and what the magician did for this guy on the spot is truly beautiful.
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u/argic85 Jan 23 '23
This is beautiful, most of the time I hate humans, but this!! It's real kidness
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u/AangAndTheFireLord Jan 23 '23
This magician performed at Valkyraes (a YouTube streamer) birthday party and was blowing minds. It was streamed and even the audience was having a hard time cracking his tricks.
So for those that think the video cut is when he did the trick, I assure you it’s not.
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u/Thick_Sympathy2321 Jan 23 '23
The trick was, he made that man feel that magic that “wouldn’t work for him”.
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u/HeyItsBobaTime Jan 22 '23
I love how the magician doesn't even hesitate and immediately tries to find a way to have the man be a part of the fun.