Savannah Phillips is a young woman who is well aware that people can be judgmental. This time, however, she experienced that first hand. Namely, she was on the plane traveling from Oklahoma City to Chicago and happened to be sitting next to a man in his sixties who introduced himself as a comedian.
He seemed nice at first and allowed Savannah to take the seat by the window. But moments later, the “gentleman” showed his true face and made this woman cry.
He took his phone out and started texting. What he wrote crushed Savannah. She shared the story of her nightmare flight and wrote, “The flight attendant started the safety speech and he got his phone out (with huge font and the screen brightness turned all the way up). His phone was maybe 12 inches from my face and he proceeded to text someone that he was sitting next to ‘a smelly fatty.’”
She felt both hurt and ashamed and didn’t have the courage to read the whole text.
“I don’t even know what the rest of his text said because I turned my head away as fast as I could. I was shocked and it was like confirmation of the negative things I think about myself on a daily basis. Before I knew it, I could feel hot, salty tears coming down my face. I sat and cried silently, hoping this guy didn’t try to make small talk, because I didn’t trust how I would react and I didn’t want to get kicked off the plane. I was so hurt.”
But just when she felt like her faith in humanity was lost, a fellow passenger stepped in for her and restored it.
Chase Irwin from Nashville was sitting across the aisle and happened to read the text the rude man was sending. He also noticed how sad it made Savannah. So, he took a short video of the man and posted it online writing, “This guy just text his wife that he is sitting next to a smelly fatty and is going to vomit. I watched her read his text and is now looking sad.”
However, that wasn’t all he did. Chase wouldn’t let anyone treat another person in that manner so he tapped the man sitting next to Savannah on the shoulder and said, “We are switching seats. Now.”
The man pretended he didn’t know why Chase demanded that, but then Chase let him know:“You are texting about her, and I’m not putting up with that.”
He then sat next to Savannah and offered words of comfort. Speaking of what he did for her, she said, “He encouraged me not to let that guy get to me and that everything was going to be fine. We talked about Ross and the kids, his two year old son, our jobs, amongst other things,” and added, “I told him thank you for what he did and that it meant the world to me- and that he would be my husband’s new favorite person. The flight attendant kept trying to give him free drinks and told him that he was her hero. He wasn’t her hero – he was mine.”
Once the story spread on the social media, many praised Chase for what he did. He was dubbed a hero who reminded us that we should always step in for one another.
You can take a look at the video of Savannah’s and Chase’s interviews below. This is truly inspiring!