It’s a phrase typically used metaphorically to describe compassion shown toward others; but in the case of one New York city man, the idiom took on a literal meaning earlier this week when he gave the shirt off his back to a shivering stranger.
The heartwarming encounter was captured on video by Lazaro Nolasco, who witnessed the exchange on the subway on Friday night as temperatures outside dipped to around 45 degrees.
As the clip shows, a shirtless man was sitting alone on the Brooklyn-bound train, visibly shivering, when another passenger stepped forward and offered him the t-shirt he'd been wearing.
The Good Samaritan is seen extending the shirt to the man, before helping him to put on the piece of clothing.
The kind straphanger is also seen placing a beanie on the stranger’s head.
“It was just us on the train,” Nolasco told the NY Daily News. “The guy didn’t have a shirt on … His body looked sick.”
According to Nolasco, Jay asked the stranger if he wanted to go to the hospital, to which the man said yes. Nolasco says, however, that he doesn’t know what became of the two men after he got off the train.
Nolasco’s video has gone viral over the weekend, racking up millions of views.
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