I keep seeing her face over and over again in my head. This woman with a gap between her top front teeth, clutching at a small bag, begging me...pleadingly...."Excuse me excuse me...do you have three dollar..." in her broken English..."I lost my..." and then her face kinda breaks...and I just shake my head and apologise...
I wonder...was she really in need? Did I turn away someone who really needed my money? My help? Or am I just too accustomed to seeing these beggars all around Town Hall? A few minutes earlier the tall, scruffy-looking beggar with grey mangled hair stood just beyond the ticket barriers. I, along with all the other commuters passing that way, see him there maybe three or four mornings a week. "Spare change...spare change" he asks holding out his hand. I wonder if it's the same beggar that Eddie talked about who he sees all the time outside Town Hall having a ciggy?
Just before I exit the QVB I see a lady in a raincoat holding an umbrella asking passers-by for money. Then I encountered the other lady...who begged...who pleaded with me...
Why didn't I just stop and ask her how I might be able to help her? Maybe she really did need help and was desperate...I had never seen her before. I felt like I was in China...in Xian when the beggars just kept begging and begging even after you've jumped on the bus...they are relentless and keep tapping the window. Could I really make that much of a difference to their lives? Could it mean the difference between them feeding their family or themselves for a week or even weeks?
Maybe I'm just jaded. I can't tell anymore what's real and what's not.
I wonder...was she really in need? Did I turn away someone who really needed my money? My help? Or am I just too accustomed to seeing these beggars all around Town Hall? A few minutes earlier the tall, scruffy-looking beggar with grey mangled hair stood just beyond the ticket barriers. I, along with all the other commuters passing that way, see him there maybe three or four mornings a week. "Spare change...spare change" he asks holding out his hand. I wonder if it's the same beggar that Eddie talked about who he sees all the time outside Town Hall having a ciggy?
Just before I exit the QVB I see a lady in a raincoat holding an umbrella asking passers-by for money. Then I encountered the other lady...who begged...who pleaded with me...
Why didn't I just stop and ask her how I might be able to help her? Maybe she really did need help and was desperate...I had never seen her before. I felt like I was in China...in Xian when the beggars just kept begging and begging even after you've jumped on the bus...they are relentless and keep tapping the window. Could I really make that much of a difference to their lives? Could it mean the difference between them feeding their family or themselves for a week or even weeks?
Maybe I'm just jaded. I can't tell anymore what's real and what's not.
