A Minnesota student is warming the hearts of the internet, after his brother filmed the moment he saw colour for the first time.
It was just another day at Lakeview Elementary School in Cottonwood for Jonathan Jones, a young student who is colour blind.
While sitting in a class learning about the visual impairment, the school’s principal whipped out a pair of special glasses – letting Jonathan see the world in colour like never before.
Check out the emotional clip below:
Posted by Jonathan’s brother Ben, the wonderful video has already been viewed nearly five million times, racking up more than 100,000 likes and nearly 20,000 retweets.
Ben wrote with the video:
My little brother is severely colour blind and so is his principal at school. While they were learning about colorblindness in class, his principal brought in some glasses that let him see colour for the first time, and he was very emotional.
In the video, while instructing students about the condition, the principal hands Jonathan the glasses and says: ‘They’re all yours.’
Immediately, the young student smiles as he takes in all the colours for the first time. It’s hard to imagine how that would feel, but it was clearly overwhelming for Jonathan, who soon breaks into tears.
The principal gives him a hug, before Jonathan heads over to the periodic table to make the most of the glasses.
Ben added: ‘This is just a great example of the huge impact that teachers can have on kids. We need to pay our teachers more; they more than deserve it.’
After the video went viral, Jonathan’s mother set up a GoFundMe to help raise money to get him a pair – they cost upwards of $350.
On the page, his mum Carole Walter Jones wrote:
After posting a video on social media of Jonathan seeing colour for the first time, we have been overwhelmed by how many kind, generous people have wanted to help him get a pair of his own colour blind glasses.
We will use these funds to purchase his own pair and donate any additional funds to a foundation who purchases colour blind glass for those who can’t afford them.
Thank you all for your love and compassion. We are overwhelmed and encouraged to know there are so many amazing people in this world who would help a young man they have never met.
The fundraiser has soared past its target, amassing a whopping $14,555 (at the time of writing). If you’d like to donate, click here.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.