- Hi!
- Hi, Chris!
- I'm looking for my friend Naftali.
Where is he?
- You didn't tell me that, Mother.
Hi, my name is Naftali and I'm 11,
and I live in New York.
I was born with Williams syndrome.
It's like when some of your genes
are missing from your brain.
- Do you know what,
how it makes you really special and wonderful?
- 'Cause I'm a still nice kid
and I'm very friendly.
- You are very friendly.
What happened in March?
- Corona started.
- And what did that mean?
- No more playing with friends or family.
- You have a heart condition,
and that meant that I got very nervous
and very stressed about keeping you safe.
- Sometimes, I would cry
because I can't see my friends.
- I'm Chris from Special Books by Special Kids.
I heard of one kid who's been having a really tough time,
and his name is Naftali.
I heard that Naftali is also a fan
of my channel and my work.
Right now, the SoulPancake team is on a call with him.
So I thought a fun way to cheer him up
and spread some joy would be to surprise him.
Let's go.
- Hi!
- Hi, Chris!
- I'm looking for my friend, Naftali.
Where is he?
- Hi.
- Hi, so nice to meet you, I'm Chris.
- You didn't tell me that, Mother.
- You're right, I didn't.
- That was a good surprise.
I watch a lot of your YouTube videos a lot.
- How do you feel when you watch them?
- I feel very special,
because there are other people like me in the world.
And sometimes, life can be a little bit hard.
- That is true.
We would be lying if we said life was always happy.
What are some things that make life hard sometimes?
- Needles pricking me all over.
- But it also means that you're super brave.
If you go to the doctors and you conquer your fears,
that just means you're strong and brave.
So you should be proud of yourself.
Can I tell you a few things that I noticed
about you that's pretty great?
- Yeah.
- You are friendly.
You greeted me with a smile.
- I always greet people with my smile.
- That is very nice.
- Something else I like about you is your confidence.
- Okay.
- And you definitely have unique qualities
that make you special and important
and just a super awesome person that's gonna contribute
a lot of great things to the world.
I thought we could do something really fun today
and make a list of things that make us happy.
One thing that makes me really happy is my dog.
- Oh, can I see him?
I love dogs.
- This is Noodle.
She has her holiday sweater on .
- If you're sad or not, she just comforts you.
- Yeah, I can put her on my lap,
give her a little pet and I cheer up.
So what's one thing that makes you happy?
- My babysitter has a dog and she loves me.
She likes to sit next to me.
She licks me, she plays with me.
- We both have animals that make us happy.
What's another thing that makes you happy?
- When I get screen time.
- Oh, my gosh, you and me both!
What's another thing that makes you happy?
- When I get surprises, it makes me happy.
For example, I never knew that we're having this meeting.
- And then, I pop up on the screen,
and I was like, "What's up?"
Can I ask you a question about this year?
- Yeah.
- What has this year been like for you?
- I wish I could just be in regular school
like the other years except for this year.
- So you're happy that you got to meet me right now,
but you also miss being in school with your friends,
is that right?
- Yep.
If you would let me meet one of the kids
on the YouTube channel, it would be very cool to meet them.
- And I can put you in contact with them
so you can be friends.
- Okay, thanks.
- There's one question I ask everybody who I interview.
What do you want the world to know about you?
- I want the world to know about me
that I'm nice and I'm just special.
- Naftali, it was so great to meet you.
Thank you for being my friend.
- You, too, Chris.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
- What was that like?
- It was very cool to meet Chris.
I can be a YouTuber like you two guys
when I grow up or someday.
- That was so much fun meeting Naftali,
just taking the time and saying hi to someone,
asking them how they are can really change
the trajectory of your day and their day.
So I hope everybody just takes a few moments
and reaches out to the people around them
and asks them how they're doing.
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Thank you for watching,
and have a great day.