Alms
Photo: Central, Hong Kong, 31 December 2002
En-route to the 970/970X bus stop as I go to work everyday is a small shop that sells EDO snacks.
It was mid-day today. I passed by the shop and came across an old lady, probably in her 80s. Dressed in typical granny shirt and pants and old black fabric shoes, she seemed a bit scrawny but otherwise quite fit for her age. This was our second encounter.
The first time I saw her, workers at the shop were emptying boxes of goods as they restocked the shop. The lady recieved from the workers empty carboard boxes at the door. Using a pocket knife, she cut open the boxes and carefully folded the cardboard into smaller stacks. On her face was a contented smile that rarely would you see in the faces of people rushing to work.
She was coming out of the shop when I saw her again today.
"Oh, it's not ready yet. That's all right," she said in a slightly disappointed but understanding tone and then sat at the doorstep of the neighboring Motarola store. She took off her denim fisherman hat, exposing drops of sweat amidst a thin layer of silver hair.
I was waiting for the bus and thought about how much longer she would have to wait in the heat for the cardboard boxes. I approached her, and from my wallet I pulled out a small sum of money and said, "Por-Por, here's a little bit of money for Yum-Cha."
"No, I can't, I can't," she said with an embarassed smile.
"But it's such a long wait for the boxes," I replied.
"That's okay. I can wait. Are you waiting for the bus?"
I should tell you by now that I have a habit of giving money (however much I can afford at the time) to old or disabled people on the streets. I have kept this a secret until now because I was taught since childhood that I was not supposed to brag about alms-giving, and that this was supposed to my treasures in heaven (陰德).
But today was different. I, the big philanthropist, thought that the lady would gladly receive my good-will. I HURT HER FEELINGS INSTEAD. I felt about one inch tall when I realized that she would rather rely on her own efforts than anybody's help to survive.
Maybe I should stop my whining altogether on this blog.
posted by Aqua Regia at 2:20 AM
3 Comments:
if possible, i hope the CE will try collect those cardboard boxes with the director of labour department, the sucker lee kwok cheung and his "lan" lo fan jiu fun, and the chow yat awk who are responsible to social welfare, at last i'd like to kick tung chee wah to hell
***
may be next time you can buy her a bottle of water, or share her a fruit and have a chat with her, she may be much happier than having money, you know money is dirty
There was a poet called "au-yeung Shou" (forgive my spelling..) who once said in his writings: "If my death can excahnge shelters for everybody in the cold windy winter, I would be happy to do it"
I cannot agree more because it's such a bargain...
I guess next time when you see old people who are still trying to earn by themselves, don't give them money. Instead, have a little chat with them or just beam a smile, and they'll be happy for at least a day.
Dark Pact-1 Takes mana from your pet and gives it to you.
Angry Birds Star Wars, Temple Run: Oz and the star of the show Minecraft - Pocket Edition (even with
it's $6. You can put Universal into that competition again with their latest release of
"Despicable Me.
Here is my site; dragonvale cheats no jailbreak ()
Post a Comment
<< Home