It also reminded me of this other advice i read somewhere last week, given by a woman whose name I am forgetting right now so I’m sorry that i can not give due credit to the author here.

The advice though was to write 5 good things that happened to you at the end of each day on a piece of paper. continue doing this for one week. for the first few days, you will have trouble trying to recall the good things that happened that day. at the end of the week, the good things will come to you automatically when you pick up the pen. this is because in your mind you have started to notice the little good things happening to you in the course of the day because you know you have to record them in a little diary. this will help you think differently and positively because you will start to notice all the little nice things around you which you didnt do before

I am not sure if that is entirely positive.

I, for one, think that it would’ve been far better if the man had helped the boy become self-reliant in some way.

For example, I once purchased a few posters of cars and motorbikes from a blind man who had set up a stall on a pavement by a road-side. He told me the price. I handed him a currency-note without telling him the denomination. He felt it with his hands and then returned the correct amount of change.