Photo of Man Helping Stranger With Math on the Subway Goes Viral: 'It Was Amazing to Me'

Credit: Denise Wilson
Credit: Denise Wilson

A bystander said she had to capture the moment.

A New York subway rider captured a beautiful moment between two complete strangers

Denise Wilson said she was on her way home from work when she spotted a man, Corey Simmons, looking at math problems inside of a green folder on the subway.

“I am thinking he’s a teacher or going over work,” Wilson told InsideEdition.com.

But then, Wilson said another passenger stepped on and sat next to the Simmons and she heard the real story.

“I overheard the conversation and Corey saying that his son failed a math test and he was relearning math so he could help his son and that he hadn’t done fractions in years,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she was shocked to hear the other man tell Simmons he used to be a math teacher. And then the stranger  started quizzing Simmons and helping him with the problems.

“He was explaining to him the things he got wrong and breaking it down to him so he could get a better understanding,” Wilson said of the stranger. “I had to capture that moment because it was too heartwarming. It was amazing to me.”

She got off the train before the men and later posted the picture of them working together on her Facebook page. The post has since gone viral.

“I was like 'wow' because I feel like a lot of dads don’t get enough credit and in our community there is not a lot of active fathers and for him to make the effort to relearn math touched my heart,” Wilson said. 

Simmons told InsideEdition.com that it was a great moment for him as well.

“People in America should do that more often,” Simmons said. “Race shouldn’t matter. I got a better understanding [of the math] and was able to relate it to my son.”

Simmons hopes to enroll his son in tutoring in the future.

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