Erez Gaon was born with nevus pigmentosa, a condition in which a person’s body is covered with extensive birthmarks. When the boy was born, the doctors immediately wrapped him in a diaper. Because they did not know how to present the news of his unusual appearance to his mother.
Worst of all, the same spots are in the spinal cord and brain of Erez, so he can experience epileptic seizures.
Erez is a very sociable and cheerful child. He is already accustomed to surprised looks and is tolerant of questions and interest in the features of his appearance.
However, a recent incident made even his mother, Ruth, angry.
Erez and Ruth were walking around the city when they saw a mother and daughter on the next side of the street pointing a finger at the boy and openly laughing at him.
They made hurtful comments and sneered loudly at Erez.
After that, the woman wrote an outraged post on her Facebook page.
“I wanted to go up to her and give her a good slap,” the woman admitted in the comments. “But my son’s reaction struck me to the core: he just smiled, took my hand and continued to walk.”
When they got home, Ruth asked her son to draw dots all over her face to make them look the same.
Her post went viral on the Internet, and soon the woman began receiving similar photos from strangers who wanted to support her son.
It turned into a real flash mob with the #FriendsofErez hashtag.
And although Ruth still cannot recover from the insolent ridicule of mother and daughter, her son’s example taught her to forgive.
“I have decided to forgive you,” Ruth wrote. “My son makes me a better person every day.”
