-Madam-
Last Friday I went to a takeaway outlet as I did not feel like cooking. Upon my arrival, I noticed an African homeless man enter the shop in hopes of buying something to eat.
With a few coins in his hands, he asked staff behind the counter what he could buy with his few odd cents to eat. What happened next, left me in absolute awe, shame and even disgust!
Instead of being polite and trying to help the man, the staff and other customers just laughed at him and teased him. I could not believe what I was seeing. I immediately felt my heart breaking for this man, who just wanted to fill his stomach on a cold, winter night.
After watching them laugh at him for about five minutes or so, I finally decided I had enough of seeing that poor man suffer, so I approached one of the staff members behind the counter, and asked her to prepare a meal for the man. I said I would gladly pay for it, because I could not stand to watch one more person laugh or make fun of him.
The look on his face as I handed him his food was priceless. He politely thanked me, immediately started to eat his food as he left the store.
One could clearly see the staff members and even other customers were ashamed of their behaviour, and were all astounded.
I mean, here I was, a ‘white lady’ going out of my way to feed a homeless, black man, whereas they just couldn’t bother about ‘their own’.
That night I realised how blessed I was. I also learned that a kind gesture goes a long way and means the world to someone else.
