The Homeless Man and the Preacher

I went to ‘China town’ in New York City last Sunday when I happened to see a homeless man peddling on the street. I was observing him for a while and see what he was doing. He was sitting down on a corner near a busy street, along canal avenue, with his head bowed down, and a little card board in his hand with a hand written note which says, “I am homeless, and I am hungry. Can you spare me some dime?”I saw some people passing him by but they never gave him any attention whatsoever. But there were some people, as they passed him by, looked at him with some curiosity. Then I saw at least three people who passed by the homeless man and dropped a few dollars in the ‘poor’ man’s bucket. After a while, I saw a man with a bible on his hand stopped by, and started conversing with the homeless man. I presumed he must have been a preacher because he started opening up his bible and started talking. I couldn’t figure out really what the preacher was saying because I was at a distance, but I knew he was quoting something from the scriptures. The Preacher must have been conversing with the homeless man for at least thirty minutes. Before the Preacher left, he gave the homeless man his own bible and gave him a few extra dollars besides. The homeless man was so happy and elated. I could see his eyes brightened up, with a great smile on his face.

The scene which I just saw between the homeless man and the Preacher reminded me about the story in the scriptures on the Good Samaritan. “A young man, beaten by robbers, lies dying by the side of the road. His pleas for help are ignored by his own people, but he is rescued by a stranger from a land called Samaria.” It is a story which teaches about the virtues of being kind and helping others in our everyday lives. What an incredible story that should make us all reflect about what life really is. What I saw in New York City between the homeless man and the preacher has also made me reflect about the meaning of my life and what it means to be charitable to others. What you do for others (or for other people) reflects something about who you are and your personhood. A saying goes, “It is in giving of myself that I discover who I am.”

But let me reflect with you about what it means to be kind and charitable to others. Today, more than ever, people are busy with so many things. We are busy with our work, family responsibilities, personal concerns, etc. Because of our ‘busyness’ we hardly have time for ourselves and for others. People are always on the go, always trying to catch up with something. As a result, we hardly see what’s happening around us. If we do, we just have a glimpse of them- nothing more. Try to make an experiment and validate what I am saying. Start experimenting with your family. How much time are you actually giving your family? Do you take time out to listen to your wife or husband or children’s concerns especially after a day’s work, or before you are running to go to work? The bottom line is, we are often so busy and concerned about ourselves, our work, family, etc., that we hardly have time to listen to our neighbor who needs help, or to a friend who may be experiencing some difficulty with his or her marriage, or to a parishioner who is sick, etc. Are you able to see and feel the suffering humanity around you, especially the people in other countries who are suffering from hunger, disease, and from all kinds of human and natural calamities? Are you just contented sitting down in your couch at home and watch these suffering people in your television without any feeling of empathy? Well, it’s true, some people(especially rich people)may decide to give something for charity. But what do they actually give for charity? A few bucks, although they may be earning millions of dollars. Observe those who give to the collection in Church. The irony is, the rich people often give less to the collection than their poor neighbor. Why is that? True giving must come from the heart. If you give out a donation simply out of your ‘extras’ and does not hurt in anyway, it is for me not true giving. As the saying goes, “you give until it hurts.’ When you do that, then it is true charity.

The same is true with regard to the time you spend for your family, for your neighbor, and for the people around you. They say that the measure of love is on how much time you can spend for your beloved. I was amazed when I saw the preacher took time out to talk with the homeless man. You see, it was not just the giving of extra cash that was important there, but the time and opportunity spent by the preacher with the homeless man- that was really commendable.