The elderly man was frozen in fear due to a previous frightening experience.
A young man helping an 83-year-old man down an escalator is warming hearts across the country.
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The elderly man was frozen with fear as he stood atop an escalator at the Holyoke Mall in Holyoke, Mass.
That’s when 23-year-old Alonzo Johnson stepped, locking arms with the senior citizen and helping him down the escalator.
He was terrified to get on because of a previous frightening experience he once had on an escalator, according to Johnson.
"I saw an elderly man looking for someone to show that they cared and to help him through a fear that he had,” Johnson told Inside Edition. “We were just talking going down the escalator and it was more of me having him talk so he can get his mind off of things.”
"I told him that his hat looked very nice and how he looked really good for an 83-year-old man," he added.
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Paula Picard, a hospice nurse, snapped the photograph of the unlikely pair and posting it to her Facebook page, where it went viral.
"After I found out that it went viral on the internet, I got so many messages from people around the country [and] from my friends and family," Johnson said.
Watch: Best Safety Practices to Consider When Riding an Escalator
