Brazilian director Walter Salles was preparing for his new film. One day, feeling quite stuck, he went to the city’s western suburbs for errands. At the train station square, he encountered a young shoeshine boy, around 10 years old. The boy asked: “Sir, do you need a shoeshine?” Walter looked down at his recently polished shoes and shook his head to decline.
As Walter turned and walked a few steps away, he suddenly saw the boy, with a flushed face, chasing after him. His eyes were full of pleading: “Sir, I haven’t eaten all day. Could you lend me some money? I promise to work hard to shine shoes starting tomorrow and return the money to you in a week!”
Looking at the ragged, thin boy before him, Walter couldn’t help but feel sympathy. He took out a few coins and handed them to the boy. The boy gratefully said: “Thank you,” and dashed off, disappearing. Walter shook his head, having encountered many street scammers before.
Half a month later, Walter, busy with his film preparations, had utterly forgotten about lending money to the boy. Unexpectedly, as he passed by the western suburb train station again, he suddenly saw a small figure waving and calling out from a distance: “Sir, please wait!” When the sweaty boy ran over to return the coins, Walter recognized him as the shoshining boy who had borrowed money.
The boy gasped for breath and said: “Sir, I’ve been waiting here for you for a long time. Finally, I can return your money today!” Holding the sweat-soaked coins in his hand, Walter felt a sudden warmth in his heart.
Walter couldn’t help but take a closer look at the boy. Suddenly, he realized that this boy perfectly fit the image of the protagonist he had in mind. So Walter stuffed the coins into the boy’s pocket, “This change is a sincere gift from me; you don’t need to return it.” With a mysterious smile, Walter added: “Come to the director’s office at the film company in the city center tomorrow. I have a big surprise for you.”
Early the following day, the guard informed Walter that a large group of children had arrived outside. Surprised, he went out to see the boy excitedly running over, innocently saying: “Sir, these children are all like me, without parents and living on the streets. When I heard you had a surprise for me, I brought them along because I know they also long for surprises!”
The kindness of this impoverished, homeless child genuinely moved Walter. Since the children were already there, Walter had his staff interview and screen them. In the end, the staff found a few children who were more clever and suitable for the role of the young protagonist than the boy.
However, Walter ultimately chose to keep only the boy. In the section of the hiring contract explaining his exemption from the audition, he wrote: “Your kindness needs no test.”
He believed that someone who could selflessly share their hope with others, even in their own time of difficulty, truly deserved life’s surprises.
This boy later became the well-known Brazilian star Vinicius de Oliveira. Under Walter’s direction, Vinicius successfully played the role of the young protagonist in the film, and Central Station received critical acclaim, winning the 1999 Academy Award.
Years later, Vinicius, now the chairman of a film and television cultural company, wrote an autobiography titled My Acting Career. Walter’s handwritten words on the book’s front page read: “Your kindness needs no test.” Below was a small line of text, his evaluation of Vinicius: “It was kindness that once made him give opportunities to other children; it is also kindness that ensured life’s opportunities never missed him!”
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