BEDFORD, Pa. (WTAJ) — You may have seen Ryan Decker around town wearing his quirky cowboy boots, rocking a mullet and walking with his ginormous dog Bubba, who never leaves his side.
Decker’s appreciation for goofiness goes much deeper than his eccentric appearance,however. It reflects his life’s mission to help people by lifting their spirits.
Decker owns his own business in downtown Bedford called Last Line, a clothing store where proceeds go toward his ultimate goal of opening a tiny home refuge for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder out in Fulton County.
A veteran himself with PTSD, Decker knows all too well what its like to linger on the negatives. Humor has helped him to shift his perspective—and that shift is something he says the world needs right now.
Which is why he took his “protest” against negativity to the streets, with signs like “beef jerky costs too much” and “stop sending me game invites on Facebook.”
Trivial arguments that everyone can get on board with and laugh at, with the hope of sparking a few lighthearted conversations.
“I just hope people start being nicer to each other,” said Decker, “golly, like, we gotta start fixing problems the right way.”
Decker’s signs have done just that, reaching beyond the little town of Bedford and going viral online via his Facebook, where he says a picture of one of his signs has reached over 5 million views.
