The Street
Thursday, March 20th, 2008 I
was at the bank last night wanting to withdraw some money. There i
saw a man, sleeping on the five-foot way, faced down to the floor.
Packets of tissue were in front of him, little plastic bag of
belongings beside him, prosthetic leg stood at the side, crutches
proped to the wall, and packet of rice at the side. I looked at
him…..
Have
you ever wonder why are there people living in the streets?
When
i was younger, once in a while, i would drop some coins or notes into
a begger’s cup. Be it old, crippled, blind, mother and child and so
on…. that was out of sympathy that i did it. Sympathy.
Then
came a time, where i had empathy. Trying to think what it’d be like
to be in their shoes.
Few
years ago i joined some friends to street feeding programme in the
city. The people that i saw there were of varied kinds. Some were
like my grandma’s age, some middle age, and some young ones, prolly
around my age. They would come every saturday for the free food given
out, medical care and the fellowship. As i helped to hand out the
food, i remember feeling sad. I was sad at the young people that i
saw. I was thinking what in the world were the young people living in
street?! Don’t they feel ashamed that i had to hand out food to
them?! They have hands and feets which could work!
Few
years ago, the media started covering stories on ‘beggers’ living in
the streets. One reporter even went undercover, pretended to be a
begger. If i remembered correctly, he collected quite a sum of money
from begging generous Malaysians. Then there were stories where they
were controlled by syndicates who forced them into begging. There
were also real stories where these people are drug addicts.
Few
years ago, i would have easily sympathize and empathize. Yesterday, i
was angry…..i was angry seeing a man sleeping in the streets of
Subang!
While
withdrawing money, i was thinking and asking God what should i do. I
could have harden my heart and think that that guy sleeping in the
street prolly earned more than me milking money out of generous
Malaysians. I got into the car, still asking God if i should do
anything. I really wanted to have driven home.
Jesus
said when you do unto the least of these, you are doing unto me.
Sometimes its hard to wrestle with convictions so i made a turn back
to the man.
I
went to him. He was asleep, i had to wake him up. He jumped and sat
up straight when i said i wanted to buy tissue. I asked him why was
he sleeping in the street. I asked him to go home. I asked him if he
has eaten. I asked him to go home. I asked him to get help from
welfare department. I asked him to go home. I asked him not to sleep
on the five-foot way. I asked him to go home.
He told me he hasn’t been home in 10 years. Used to stay in Sunway,
brother kicked him out of house. Have been living in the street for
10 years. People shoos him away and scolds him. He has eaten dinner.
He hasn’t been home for 10 years.
Throughout
that few minutes, i dunno what went through his head. I told him i’ve
seen him before few years ealier sleeping on the street. Never had
the guts then to confront, yesterday i was just angry to see him
still sleeping in the street. I told him to go home. I told him to go
home. I just told him to go home. Sigh! He had alcohol breathe.
I
find it really ironic, Subang a highly developed residential and
commercial area, also an education hub. People here are mostly
educated, living in the middle income bracket. And yet, there are
still people living in the street!
When
he realized that i wasn’t sympathizing with his sob story, and that i
was serious about him going back home, he wanted to give me change
for the purchase of the tissue paper. I told him to go home.
As
i was driving home, i was just thinking and asking what would Jesus
do?
