Today, I went out to eat with a friend and when we came out a woman came to us asking for money. She said she wanted money to feed her babies and told us she would get on her knees and beg if she had to.
I’ve come across and seen many homeless people and while it’s always a sad case, none of them have ever broken my heart the way this one did. Has this woman come across so much of the negativity that comes with the stigma of being homeless that she offered to get on her knees and beg before I even said no?
That was the part that really broke my heart.
I know some people are homeless because they’re alcoholics or drug addicts, but I also know that many people just fall on hard times. Could this woman not have been one of them?
I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind that I was possibly giving my money to someone who wasn’t going to spend it on food for her children, but instead find the nearest liquor store, but I still gave her whatever cash I had in my wallet.
When my friend and I got in the car, a conversation about how the woman might spend the money started. We both voiced that she looked a little old to have kids and if she was in fact trying to feed them, where were they if she was here?
But when I got home I mentally reprimanded myself for thinking the worst of someone so desperately begging for money. Granted, the money I handed her could’ve been used to buy anything but food, but would I have missed that $4 anyway? No, but if she did in fact have kids she was trying to feed, they would have missed that meal.
My point being, we should strive to be good people, even when something is telling us “it’s safer not to be.”
It’s so easy to focus on the negative things in life. Sometimes, it seems like that’s all that’s surrounding us. We hear about violence, death, war and almost nothing good on the news. We let everyday nuisances ruin our day.
What’s easier said than done and what needs to happen in my life, and I’m sure many people would agree, is to start focusing on the good. Everyday something good happens to you. Even if it’s the smallest thing, that seems to mean nothing, be thankful for that.
I think being wrapped up in all of the negativity, makes it easy for us to forget that people are inherently good. Love is natural. Hate is learned.
Check your privilege and be good to people. With a flip of a coin you could be in their shoes.
braynestorming 