#139 Good people

I’ve been living in Toronto for few months now, for the most part the city is very loud and stressful, too much traffic, and very impatient people. I think it’s similar to most big metropolitan cities around the world. And although Canada is considered a rich country but you see a lot of homeless people asking for money. Many times in a big city when you see many people asking for money you tend to become indifferent, thinking it’s a normal scene to encounter on a daily basis.

Usually, I start my day by going to a coffee shop in the morning, the other day while I was at the coffee shop, I saw something that I thought was very kind and nice to see in a big city like Toronto. There was this young man who was just sleeping while sitting on one of the couches at the coffee shop, I happen to see him a couple of times in the streets asking for money. To avoid confrontation the staff at the coffee shop didn’t bother him or say anything directly to him. Then a man comes in and goes up and buy a coffee and offer it to this young man. Although the young homeless man didn’t want the coffee and thanked the man who bought him the coffee and he went back to sleep and finally took 2 sips before going back on the streets. I thought it was a nice and kind gesture of that man to do such as kind act, without being judgmental he went ahead and did what he thought it was right.

Few minutes after that, I saw a middle aged man standing in front of the coffee shop, he was smoking and asking people for money, and then another man who was about to get into the coffee shop, handed the middle aged man $10, I thought that was really nice to see people doing these kind gestures. Although sometimes you feel there are so many people asking for money in the streets and there are so many social programs to help these people, but what’s important that the kind people try to do these little gestures to make the life of others better.

It was a good lesson for me, because I was sitting next to this young man, but I was indifferent, I know it wouldn’t have made a difference if I bought him coffee but that’s beyond the point. I realized that offering someone something is not usually about the thing but what it means of showing the person the kindness of others, because sometimes people lose hope and a kind gesture like this would build a stronger community.