AN ENCOUNTER WITH A BEGGAR

 

Last week I came across a beggar in Wuyan. I did not become aware of his existence until I saw his eyes. He was blind. It seemed that he had only one arm and one leg. He was not sitting there; instead he was lying prostrate on the street. Weekend shoppers came and went but none of them put any money in his broken bowl.

 

Filled with sympathy, I went over and looked at him for a while. His face was disfigured. That was why most passers-by turned their eyes away. Feeling my presence, he turned to me. Oh my God! Though blind he was able to tell I was there.

 

Not knowing what I was up to, he was alarmed. He held his broken bowl tightly in both hands. He might be thinking that I would rob him.

 

So many questions crowded in on me when I was staring at the bowl in his hands. Where are his family? Did they abandon him because of his disability? Why doesn’t the government help him? Or is he a cheat?

 

A few seconds later, I put five yuan in his bowl. He must be happy anyway. If he were a cheat he would be happy about his success. If he were a beggar, he would be happy because he could have a meal with my little help.