Years ago, I was in Wuhan on a business trip. At a train station I was waiting in line to get a ticket. A hobo in his twenties, clad in filthy clothes, came up to each queuer and panhandled for money, claiming that he was hungry and that he needed cash for a meal.

Most of the travellers in the queue simply turned their back on the beggar or gave him a dirty look, but a smartly dressed middle-aged man reacted differently. When approached, the gentleman, in a suit and tie, looked him in the eye and asked quietly, “How much do you need, mate?” At a distance, I could not make out what the young panhandler was mumbling. The gentleman, having got the answer from the unkempt bloke, pulled several banknotes out of his wallet and, without batting an eyelid, placed them in his palm.

I don’t know whether the tramp actually spent the money on a meal or on something else. What I do know is that I witnessed black-and-white reactions to the same situation. I saw people who were callous, indifferent, or annoyed. And then I saw the gentleman who, genuine and trusting, treated the homeless individual as though he were a brother. I decided then and there that, even though we have to be wary in this world, I will follow the gentleman’s example under similar circumstances in the future.