Three young men from Alabama learned a valuable lesson when they sat down for dinner with an elderly stranger: "Go see your grandparents. They miss you." The enlightening encounter happened when the group of friends spotted an elderly woman eating alone at a local restaurant and decided to join her.

Jamario Howard says he and his friends, JaMychol Baker and Tae Knight, were waiting for their food at Brad's in Oxford, Alabama when the spotted the woman dining solo. "My exact thought was, 'Dang I'd hate to have to eat alone,'" Howard wrote on Facebook. "So after thinking about it a minute I walked over to her and asked if i could sit with her."

The woman said yes and the two started talking "After a while of talking she told me she lost her husband and that tomorrow would have been their 60th anniversary," Howard wrote. "I instantly gave my condolences and asked her to come eat with us, which she was excited to do."

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The three friends welcomed the widow to their table and they all shared a meal together. They snapped a picture that has gone viral, with more than 44,000 people sharing Howard's Facebook post.

"The point in this is always be kind and be nice to people," Howard reflected on the moment. "You never know what they are going through." He said the woman changed his outlook on life and how he looks at other people. "Everyone has a story so do not judge! And people i can't stress this enough. GO SEE YOUR MOM AND YOUR GRANDPARENTS. They miss you!"

The elderly widow touched the young men's hearts – and they touched thousands of others by sharing their story of kindness.