When instead of a heart we find a stone

Today as I was parking at a drug store chain, an older man and what seemed to be his wife approached me. They looked clean and sober but they also looked malnourished, especially the man. He asked me if I had any change I could spare that he was embarrassed to ask but, he had lost his job a year ago and up to now he had been able to make the $125.00 a month payment for his motorcycle but that now he had no more money and he was 3 months short from paying off the bike which was his only means of transportation. He said he could lie and say he had a sick child, or sick wife but that he had never been a liar and he preferred to say the truth. I felt sorry for the man, he seemed sincere and we all know the rough times in which we live.

I told him that Friday I could help them, but that today I was broke myself. I began walking and, decided to look into my wallet and saw I had $4.00, my entire capital until Friday. I was tempted to continue walking, I must be honest but then again that isn’t me and I know I could not live with my conscience so I returned, showed him the $4 and told him that was all I had and gave them half. Their appreciation and gratitude was too much for the miserable $2 I was able to spare and that made me feel very uncomfortable, I didn’t deserve such praise!

Finally, I was able to walk away after countless “thank you's” and “God bless you's” and the obligatory “your welcome”; while I was walking I noticed a car with a handicap tag hanging from the rear view mirror, going against the traffic. A woman that looked healthier than the couple I had left behind called me and in not a very proper way either. She just said “Hey, you! Come here!” Looking around and realizing she was referring to me I walked toward her window. She was insulted because she had seen me giving money to “those people”, I asked her why did she think there was a problem with my action to which she replied: “They’ve been here for an hour asking people for money!” When I told her what the man had told me she moved her arms in disgust and yelled a few obscenities and with the pedal to the metal left, or so I though.

As I was reaching the drugstore, I saw her parking. She came out of the car and I had to laugh! She was no handicapped! So, it’s perfectly all right for her to be a liar and abuser but God forbid someone asks for help, then that represents a problem.

What is wrong with this society? Whatever happened to sympathy, cordiality, and compassion? I am a firm believer that nothing, absolutely nothing happens for no reason and I am beginning to understand why the economy is the way it is – from a human point of view, not a economist one. There are way too many people that have to hit rock bottom financially for them to get off their high horse. There have been homeless people for about 30 years roaming our streets and no one cared. The homeless were invisible for most; they were even considered some sort of pest, which many wished they would simply disappear. Not everyone was like this, but sadly the vast majority couldn’t care less and walked passed them without even noticing they were there. Today, more and more middle class people are getting closer and closer to becoming homeless themselves. Many are struggling to make ends meet, myself included. Perhaps, this economic and social collapse is a necessity for humanity to regain its humanity which has been lost since long ago over to selfishness, greed and ambition.