When you know everyone around you, it’s a lot easier to call them friends. And one 4-year-old boy in Concord, North Carolina, has pulled about a dozen of his neighbors into his life and into each other’s lives, all with a kind wave. Roman Butzlaff greets nearly everyone who passes his house with a wave and a smile. According to CBS News, his kind habit has been putting a smile on all his neighbors’ faces. His mom, Anna Butzlaff, said he wakes up every day wanting to say hi to someone, and he does just that.
Roman has been spreading joy because he has gone through a hard time. About a year ago, Roman’s parents broke up, and his father moved to Florida. His grandparents live out of state as well. His mom said her son carried a loneliness that his waving did not show, and it has been nothing but a positive for the boy and his mood since it started.
Wade Fulgum went over to meet the boy who was always waving at him one day, as the boy’s neighbor across the street. After that, the two began spending time together, and other neighbors followed, stopping to talk or joining in on whatever Roman was doing.
Anna Butzlaff said it felt strange at first, since she barely knew any of these people. She went along with it because she could see her son was happy. Roman started inviting neighbors to his soccer, basketball, and baseball games, and they turned up for his swimming lessons and even his preschool open house.
Who Roman Invited to His Birthday Party
When his birthday came around, Roman’s mother realized the guest list had already sorted itself out. The only people she needed to invite were the senior citizens on the street who had become his friends, and all the rest of the community who appreciate the boy’s waving. One of them said Roman loves having them there and runs up to hug them, a sign they’re all quickly becoming best buds.
The refrigerator in the Butzlaff house is now covered with pictures of the people Roman has gathered. His mother said the loneliness is gone and that the neighbors have become genuinely important to him. The dozen adults he brought together say they would have barely known each other without him. As one neighbor put it, “Look at what this little kid has built.”
Why Neighborhood Connection Matters This Much
Loneliness can be a difficult emotion to deal with, whether you’re young or old. In May 2023, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory called Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, which reported that about half of US adults had experienced loneliness, according to NPR. The advisory found that a lack of social connection can raise the risk of premature death by roughly as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and that isolation is associated with higher rates of heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression, and anxiety.
The advisory also found that people across age groups are spending less time together in person than they did two decades ago, with the sharpest drop among those aged 15 to 24, who reported about 70% less time with friends. Murthy called on workplaces, schools, community organizations, and parents to rebuild the connections that have thinned out. The neighbors in Concord arrived at a lower-tech version of the same idea. And they owe it all to a kind little kid named Roman.