[00:01.73]How I've Been Enriched by Beggars
[00:05.66]Outside our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,
[00:11.13]a seemingly ancient woman on crutches waited beside the door
[00:15.18]with her hand outstretched.
[00:16.82]Every day I put my hand in hers as our eyes met.
[00:20.32]She never failed to return my smile, my grasp, and my greeting.
[00:25.13]On the last day of our visit,
[00:27.10]I found myself alone on a busy corner across the street from our hotel.
[00:31.37] Bicycles and motorbikes careened in front of me.
[00:34.76] We had been advised to walk straight through the teeming traffic
[00:38.47]without looking right or left. Let them avoid us
[00:41.64]But tonight I was by myself and felt inadequate to face the torrent of vehicles.
[00:47.66]As I hesitated on the curb,
[00:49.84]I felt a hand on my elbow and
[00:52.14] looked down to see the smile of my small beggar friend looking up at me.
[00:56.41] She nodded her head toward the street,
[00:58.38] indicating that she would take me across.
[01:00.45]Together, we moved slowly into the chaos as she gently prodded me forward.
[01:05.49]When we reached the center of the crossing,
[01:08.00]I looked down at her again, and couldn't resist exclaiming,
[01:11.28]"You have the most beautiful smile."
[01:14.12]She obviously knew little English,
[01:16.53]but must have recognized the tone,
[01:18.28]for she threw both arms and crutches around me in a big hug,
[01:22.22] while the traffic streamed by us on both sides.
[01:25.18]Then we precariously moved on toward the sidewalk,
[01:28.88] where she pulled my face down to hers, kissed me on both cheeks,
[01:33.14]and then limped away, still smiling and waving back to me.
[01:36.75]I had not given her a single coin.
[01:39.92]We had shared something vastly more important—
[01:42.98]a warming of hearts in friendship.
[01:45.61]This experience remained me of something Mother Teresa once said:
[01:49.88] "If you cannot do great things, you can do small things with great love."
[01:54.79]To look beggars in the eye and smile,
[01:57.64]thus acknowledging their existence, is a small thing.
[02:01.03]Putting your hand into another's outstretched hand
[02:04.09]and grasping it firmly for a moment is also a small thing.
[02:08.58] Learning to use a greeting in the local language is not too difficult.
[02:13.39]But these are important.
[02:15.69]Traveling in poorer nations,
[02:17.54]I have witnessed a variety of ways to deal with beggars.
[02:21.26] The most common response of tourists faced with the poverty-stricken
[02:25.42]is to ignore them and focus their eyes elsewhere.
[02:28.81]I have seen people push away an outstretched hand in angry annoyance.
[02:33.51]A few may hastily drop a few coins into a beseeching palm,
[02:37.78]and then execute a quick getaway in hopes that
[02:40.73] another 20 ragged pursuers won't immediately appear on the scene.
[02:44.67]But I feel it's worthwhile to try to live
[02:47.51] by the words of English author John Cowper Powys:
[02:51.23]"No one can consider himself wholly civilized
[02:54.62]who does not look upon every individual,
[02:57.57]without a single exception, as of deep and startling interest."
[03:02.27]I've learned that those considered the world's most hopeless
[03:05.78]are so often rich in humanity,
[03:08.29]with hearts yearning to be affirmed—and ready to respond.
[03:12.45]My life continues to be enriched by connecting with everyday humanity.
[03:17.69]Each time I do this,
[03:19.23]I rediscover that what I have been given is far beyond monetary value.
[03:24.15]And I reaffirm that everyone is worthy—and worth knowing.
|