In the light of recent tragedies, a Canton man said he'd had enough when he recently came across the word "EVIL" painted in Collinsville.
With some help, he made a change and it's brought a small community even closer.
It's a word that popped up and cast a shadow over those who passed by a well-traveled area near the popular brick pump house. The building has been painted on over and over again but this time had the word "EVIL" on it.
Local resident Tim Brown said with everything going on in the world lately, it pained him to see it.
"I was worked up and hurt, honestly. It was depressing. It was a bit much and to make that big of a statement on the building that so many people see on the trail system here and driving by," Brown said.
Brown knew he couldn't let it stand, so he drove to Larsen Ace Hardware. When he revealed what he planned to do, the shop gave him the paint for free.
"I can see why Tim was here, what he wanted, and I'm like, 'Yeah, I will take care of you.' It was that simple," Larsen Ace Hardware general manager Andy Dylag said. "We're all local here. We live nearby, our kids go to school here, the kids graduated here, so we're always helping local folks out."
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With buckets in hand, Brown painted away the word "EVIL" one brush stroke at a time and in its place he wrote the word "LOVE." He hoped it would lift spirits, and for one local family it already has.
"I think he did a wonderful job. It makes a lot of difference when you're sitting on the bench," Canton resident Karen Macbeth said.
The bench Macbeth is talking about was donated by her mother in memory of her father and nephew who died about six years ago. The family spends a lot of time there making sure it's kept in good condition. The bench faces that brick building, so seeing evil transformed into love means a lot.
"It's much, much nicer, and that's, I think, our whole country needs that kind of positivity," Macbeth said.
With tens of thousands of views on Brown's video of him painting over "EVIL" with "LOVE," it's clear to see a simple act has made a big difference.
