I was having a cup of coffee with a visiting colleague overlooking the esplanade yesterday morning.
A not-so-old man came to our table asking for "one dollar". He spoke in Foochow which my colleague could not understand. When I explained, I added that he was young and could go to work.
My colleague gave him a dollar, while I practically stopped him to do so!
Later he said, "He is mentally unsound. He is unemployable. A person with a sound mind won't go around begging for money."
I have always been conscious about exhibiting love under pressure, keeping my temper when I am being irritated, be sweet when things are going wrong - and I have been proud that I do pass with flying colours most of the times!
But God really does not test that way. He catches me unprepared, off-guard. You are having a blissful morning over coffee, He comes as a mentally unsound man asking for money. What happens then?
That's the test!
And I fail terribly!
A lesson learnt during breakfast by the magnificent Rejang River -
A not-so-old man came to our table asking for "one dollar". He spoke in Foochow which my colleague could not understand. When I explained, I added that he was young and could go to work.
My colleague gave him a dollar, while I practically stopped him to do so!
Later he said, "He is mentally unsound. He is unemployable. A person with a sound mind won't go around begging for money."
I have always been conscious about exhibiting love under pressure, keeping my temper when I am being irritated, be sweet when things are going wrong - and I have been proud that I do pass with flying colours most of the times!
But God really does not test that way. He catches me unprepared, off-guard. You are having a blissful morning over coffee, He comes as a mentally unsound man asking for money. What happens then?
That's the test!
And I fail terribly!
A lesson learnt during breakfast by the magnificent Rejang River -
"...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." (Matthew 25:35-36 RSV)
6 comments:
I don't think you've failed. Given that you were not aware of his mental condition, you were doing what you think was right for this man! If you didn't care, you would have given him the dollar.
Good for reflection....thanks.
If they are sane enough to go round begging for money, they should be able to do some simple decent job.
And there was a woman who told me a whole lot of sob stories and I bought some midin from her at double the market price...and when I went back to the school, my colleagues told me she was rich, had a house...and her children all uni grads! She's still at it! Now operating around the Rasa Sayang area...so watch out for her.
I don't mind chipping in to help very old people, orphans and the disabled. In fact, whenever we pass a blind man playing music on the road, my daughter would insist that I donated...and then I heard there was some kind of syndicate behind these people - they were being exploited??? Ever heard the story (dunno true or not) about a couple whose baby boy was kidnapped...and many years later, they saw him without legs...made to beg in the streets in Thailand.
Best to direct your donations through the proper channels like the orphanage, welfare homes, charitable organisations and societies and so on.
Jo, he really looked "mentally unsound", thus the guilt. My friend said he only had a little more sense in that situation in seeing a mentally unemployable person asking him for money!
Sarawakiana,
There is a lesson to learn in every situation!
STP,
I know the woman you mentioned. Whenever she approached me, I would tell her nicely that I would convey your sob stories to so and so (his son whom I know). She would leave. I won't mind buying some vegetables from her, but all her stories were made-up ones!
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