(The morning is chilly and misty. People are hurrying to their various destinations to start their daily routines. On one street, a lady is seen opening up her business premises. She notices a street urchin sleeping on the corner of her entrance. Quickly she rushes in and returns with a bucket of water which she spills on the urchin.)
Irene: Get out of my property. Rubbish! (She utters)
Street urchin: Sorry mama… (He utters as he takes off with a teary face)
Mary: (Shaking her head in disapproval) “You didn’t have to do that. You could have just woken him up and let him go Irene. (Mary is Irene’s neighbor in their business set-up as well as her church peer).
Irene: I don’t have time for dirty little brats in the street. (She rolls her eyes and heads into her shop)
(Later that day, the urchin is back at his favorite spot although a little farther from Irene this time)
Mary: Here you are, son (She offers him food in a dish while smiling) this will hold your stomach for a while.
Irene: (Sneering) For how long will you feed them? They are all over the place.
Mary: I don’t have to help everyone but everyone can help someone – she says confidently as she offers the boy water in a bottle.
(The day ends and everyone leaves and only the urchins are left roaming the streets. As usual the boy retires to sleep along the street but this time chooses Mary’s shopfront for the night.)
(Robbers are seen struggling with the urchin to break into Mary’s shop but do not succeed. With the fight and the noise that brought more urchins to the spot, they give up and instead, head to Irene’s shop. The boy signals his fellows not to bother protect the other shop, thus they walk away) the next morning…
Irene: (Hands on her head and tears in her eyes.) Mary, they robbed me. Everything is gone.
Mary: I am so sorry Irene. We should check the footage it might help.
(Both head to the computer to check the security footage. They see the boys chase the robbers from Mary’s shop but they don’t bother do so when Irene’s shop is robbed. Irene with her knees to the ground, sobs and is heard saying…)
Irene: I should have thought about or seen this coming.
“An act of kindness “. How many times do we give and expect nothing in return? We have a tendency to say they are too many of this or that and that maybe the government should be the one, to sort them out. That somebody is getting rich using them, thus we cannot give them anything. This is not and should not be justification enough. Help one, somebody else will help another and in the long run, most if not all, could get help.
It doesn’t have to be the boy or girl on the street. Many people have problems and what we often do, is ignore them. Needy people will come to us and yet, we cannot afford to even offer them a word of comfort. If we cannot help them, then who or what are we? It is not about how much we can give, it is about how open hearted we do so.
Think of the vanity word. If we can afford to give thousands or millions to our houses of worship, but cannot afford that simple lunch or that compassion, then what is it all about? Vanity? Does millions without humanity count even before The Creator? Click HERE to read more posts by Gertrude Nyatichi
