A Chance Meeting

Isn’t it amazing how a chance meeting will make you have a flashback on an incident in your life? This sort of thing happened to me one evening. I was out with my husband and son when my husband got a maintenance call at one of the chain of convenience stores that he works for.  He drove out to the call and left our son and me in our mini-van.  He proceeded into the store to fix the technical problems they were having. 

            My son and I decided to pass the time by using his pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as a makeshift memory game.   We were having fun, a good mother and son bonding moment.  He was getting a kick out of how I was stumbling on the characters names that he knew by heart.

I then noticed out of the corner of my eye a woman coming our way from the parking lot.  She stopped at the driver’s window that was partially down.   For some reason, I just knew what she was up to--she was going to beg for money.

 Being from a large city, I have had my share of solicitors.   I’m sorry to say that on the news we were warned of “professional” beggars.  They would dress in rags by day and stand at the corner for spare change.  Once their “day at the office” was done, they would get into their car and go home.  It makes a person pick and choose whom to help out with a contribution.  We were told to only contribute to charities, not to the random beggars on the street.  However, my experiences with refusing to offer spare changes to these the beggars on the street were not the greatest.  They became very belligerent when I would refuse or ignore their solicitations.  I began to just hand over a dollar to get them away from me, not feeling the least bit charitable or caring about my fellow human being.

            These memories began to well up in me when this woman approached our van.  I felt myself tense up and become angry that she was interrupting our bonding time.  I debated if I should just dig in my purse for a dollar or say I had no change and honk the horn if she becomes a problem. 

Then she began to speak.  “Excuse me, Miss.  Could you spare some change so I could get something to eat?  Oh, I see you have your child with you.” 

After she made this observation, her eyes started to well up with tears.  I was struck with the thought that this could be a ploy to get sympathy. However, I saw something in her eyes that told me she was embarrassed that her life was now reduced to begging money from strangers. 

I dismissed the thought that she was acting and gave her a couple of dollars and wished her well.  She thanked my profusely and, true to her words, walked into the convenience store to buy some food.  For once, I didn’t second-guess myself giving a couple of bucks to someone who truly needed it. 

By now, my husband came out of the store and we were on our way home.  Many different thoughts tumbled through my head.  I hate to say, but my first thought was I was so grateful that I was not in her position. I vowed I would never let myself be put in that predicament.  Suddenly, I said a quick prayer for the woman, hoping that she would somehow turn her life around and make good choices.  Then, I realized that I wasn’t as cynical as I thought my past experiences had made me.  Before, I would always chide myself for being too soft-hearted by letting someone else’s troubles affect me.  Now, I noticed I still had compassion for my fellow person and that makes all the difference.