Little did "The Rock" know, but his simple yet thoughtful gesture years ago had a tremendous effect on a man and his late father.
Dwayne Johnson recently shared a photo on his social media accounts of himself, posing with Officer Richard Arias while filming his HBO series "Ballers."
In the post, he explained that the officer had told him about an encounter the two had at a hospital, back in 2008. At the time, Johnson's mother, Ata, was battling lung cancer, and Arias' father, Jesus, was as well. The Rock had smiled and held the door open for Jesus -- an act that spoke volumes to the man.
"'You have no idea what that moment meant to him. And me,'" the Rock wrote, recalling what Arias said to him.
According to the post, the actor was approached by his security, who told him about officers who wanted to meet him -- including one who had a personal story to share. After taking photos with them, the Rock spoke with Arias and discovered that he and the officer were taking their parents to weekly treatments at the same time. Though, sadly, Jesus died last year, and it'd been years since the incident, Arias had meaning to address it.
"Officer Arias shared with me that he'd been waiting years to tell me that on that day, after I shook his dad's hand and told him to stay strong, that his dad felt no pain that day," Johnson wrote of the incident. "And [Jesus] was once again ... a happy man and pain free. Even if just for one day."
But Arias wasn't the only one who felt grateful that day. The Rock, whose mother is now a cancer survivor, said he was not only honored by Arias' words, but was reminded of an important lesson.
"I'm always asked, 'What's the best part of fame?' Hands down, it's moments like this," he wrote on his Instagram post. "Remember it's often the littlest things we do in life that can make the BIGGEST difference."
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