If you believed everything people said on social media, you’d be convinced that the younger and older generations were at war with each other. Stories like this show that the opposite is true.

If you heard that someone in your community was missing, would you search for them? 17-year-old Katie Qualls does not need to answer this question.

One evening, Qualls went online and saw something that upset her greatly. Someone had posted in the local group page that an old man with dementia had gone missing. And his family was incredibly worried and desperate to know if anyone had seen him.

It was a cold night outside. So Qualls started worrying about what would happen to the old man if someone didn’t find him soon.

At first, the teenager tried to put the issue out of her mind. And she reasoned that the police were probably looking for the man. They knew what they were doing, she thought to herself. But as she went to bed, she found that she couldn’t fall asleep because of her worry.

Then she began thinking of her own grandfather, who also had dementia, and how he would be struggling in this situation. So she got out of bed and decided to take the issue up with her parents.

She told them that she wanted to search for the missing neighbor herself. Her parents were confused at first. But eventually, after she spoke about how the old man made her think of her granddad, they decided that she could also help with the search.

So Qualls joined other members of the local community to look for the old man.

A police helicopter was even flying overhead, trying to use thermal imaging to find the missing person.

But Qualls had a hunch of where he might be.

She knew that there was an abandoned home nearby. And thanks to childhood hijinks, she knew how to get into a sealed-off area in the backyard.

In that backyard, Qualls started looking through the bushes. And there, lying in the mulch was the old man.

So Qualls approached the man and discovered that he was conscious. But he was very confused.

The old man was scared and asked the woman not to hurt him. So Qualls reassured the old man that he was safe.

She managed to lift the old man up and carry him to the street. And then she called the police.

“I was like ‘I’m not gonna let you go. I got you.’ He was shaking really bad.” – Katie Qualls.

Soon, the police arrived on the scene. Qualls traveled with them and the old man to the family’s home. The old man was still very confused, and she was determined to keep him relaxed until he was back with his family.

The old man’s wife thanked Qualls for returning her husband. The wife couldn’t hold back tears. And Qualls was so overcome with emotion that she started crying herself.

When Qualls returned home, she still couldn’t sleep. But this time, she wasn’t worried, she was struggling to process all that she had been through.

Qualls shows that most young people are amazing.

Sure, people love to complain about how lazy and uncaring young people are. But the truth is that many young people think nothing of dropping everything to search for a lost community member.

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Source: WLBT