Rather than fight vitriol with vitriol, a Muslim politician who is running for a seat in Congress responded to some deeply hurtful anti-Muslim tweets with compassionand it completely changed the dialogue.

Qasim Rashid, a Democratic attorney who is running for Congressman in the 1st district of Virginia, was perturbed to receive a series of racist messages from a conservative constituent on Twitter.

The man in question was a 66-year-old Fredericksburg resident named Oz Dillon.

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Dillon has been struggling to pay the bills since his wife suffered a pulmonary embolism that wiped out their retirement savings. In addition to having a modest income of just $38,000 per year, Dillon and his wife have been coping with soaring insurance rates and a house that is not handicap accessible.

When Rashid learned of Dillons financial difficulties on Twitter, he donated to Dillons GoFundMe campaign and encouraged his community voters to do the same.

Inspired by Rashids kindness, many of his social media followers did indeed donate to the crowdfunding page, leaving Dillon in awe.

Dillon later sent Rashid an apology for his earlier insults and thanked him for showing such compassion.

Mr. Rashid, You humble me sir, with your graciousness, and surprisingly kind words, he said in a message to Rashid. You cannot imagine how uplifting it is, to see gifts such as yours starting to come in! Given how I have misspoken about you in posts on Facebook, I am truly shocked, that you have shared my wife and my plight with your supporters. I must now reassess my opinion about you, and your platform, come November.

He also published a note of thanks to his benefactors on GoFundMe.

An amazing week of eye- and heart-opening enlightenment, that I used to always have before 9/11, he said A Christian Muslim, Qasim Rashid, who I had previously opposed politically just because of the word Muslim, has opened my eyes that there are GOOD people in all walks of life.

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He shared our plight with his followers, who in turn donated nearly $1,000 dollars to help Terri and I get rid of this crushing debt. I owe him, and everyone in fact, a deep debt of gratitude, and pray you are all rewarded tenfold, for your generosity.

Dillon and Rashid eventually met in person so they could develop their newfound friendship. Since their story has been shared on social media and news outlets, Dillons crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $20,000.

However, Dillon now says he only plans on keeping enough of the funds to get himself and his wife out of their financial rut before he donates the rest to St. Judes Childrens Hospital, The American Heart Association, and their local food bank.

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Politician Helps Pay Off Crushing Medical Debt for Man Who Sent Him Racist TweetsAnd They're Now Friends - Good News Network