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Tag Archives: homeless

The kindness of a stranger

05 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by seejanesblog in Morocco, Observations

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addicted, arabic, happy, homeless, kindness, kindness of strangers, life, man, marrakech, Morocco, stranger, thanks, travel, vagabond

In Marrakech, Morocco, I walked to the car wearing a back pack and realized I needed to pay the parking attendant, so unzipped the pack to remove the wallet. Unzipping the wallet, I grabbed some change, handed it to my business partner so he could pay the attendant, and tossed the wallet back into the backpack. As I continued walking to the car, a man stopped me. He is a man I have seen many times; a vagabond, a man addicted to drugs, someone I considered unseemly, dirty, even shifty and untrustworthy.

I backed away, giving the signal that I wasn’t interested in anything he had to say. Stop. No. Not interested. He pointed at me and made a zipping motion over and over. Thinking he wanted money from my zippered wallet, I shook my head vigorously back and forth. He persisted. I became more emphatic and said, ‘La!’, the Arabic word for no. This went on for a bit as I made my way toward the car.

My business partner, Mokhtar, arrived, talked with the man for a few moments, and said to me, “Your back back is unzipped.” My back pack is unzipped? Oh! My back pack is unzipped!

This man was simply telling me with his zipping motion that my back pack was unzipped. I was stunned. Embarrassed. Ashamed. I had thought the worst.

With body language and broken Arabic I did my best to thank him. “Shukran besef! Shukran besef!” I repeated. Thank you, very much. Thank you, very much. He responded with a huge smile and a hand over his heart, a common sign in Morocco to symbolize thanks and appreciation. He walked me to the car, opened the door while I got in, then gently closed it behind me, waving and smiling as we drove away, hand over his heart.

Stunned, Mokhtar and I stared at each other, shocked at what had just happened. Shocked. And also thankful for the kindness of a stranger, someone from whom we least expected it.

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Creativity in New York

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by seejanesblog in Observations

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creativity, friendly, happy, homeless, joyful, kind, kindness, money, New York City, NYC, poverty, smile

The homeless and the needy in New York City are coming up with new and creative ideas to collect money. And I’m impressed. They’re helpful and friendly and quite free with the compliments! “I love your dress,” one man said to me, smiling as he shook his money-cup. “Be careful of that spot on the sidewalk up there or you’ll trip,” another man offered. And I keep seeing the same ones over and over since I’m staying in the same apartment for a few days; I’m getting to know the neighborhood and the neighbors. I like these guys.

While studying the map at the train station a guy came up and asked where we were going and then explained exactly how to get to our destination with his toothless-smile, looking us each straight in the eye. Wow. I liked this guy. I was impressed the train station/city employed such a helpful person to help lost tourists like us. And I was impressed with this man’s kindness.

We thanked him and started walking away when it dawned on me that he probably wasn’t an employee of the train station at all; something about it when we just said thanks and started walking away made me know the real situation. “What makes you so kind?” I asked him. He told us that he likes helping people and that he comes to this station on Sundays to help tourists. Then he added, “I’m homeless and I don’t like asking people for money so I’d rather help people instead.” All this he said while looking at us directly in the eye and smiling. I gave him some money and he shook my hand with a firm grip and thanked me sweetly. Wow. It stayed with me all day and will continue to do so. Plus he yelled to us, “That’s the 3, you want the 1 – – don’t get on that train!” Still offering help even as we were almost out of range! This man exuded kindness, politeness, humility and friendliness.

Another guy on the street did the same thing, helped us with directions when he could tell we were wandering aimlessly looking for something. Not having money we apologized we couldn’t give him anything and he shrugged and said he didn’t care. We thanked him for his kindness and he waved at us and walked away. Again, I’m super impressed. What’s happened to the pushiness of the needy in NYC? They’re just so darn nice.

I’ve gotten used to seeing some of these people at their regular corner on the streets we regularly walk and I look forward to seeing them each day. They greet me with a smile and a kind word every single time. They’ve become a happy part of my day.

I’m sad there’s homelessness and poverty and whatever other things are going on so that these people feel relegated to collect money from others. And I know any society can never rid itself from it. But if they’re going to do it anyway I’d rather have them do it like this.

To me it’s just another example of how kind and loving humans can be. There’s such great stuff happening around us if we just stop and notice.

20130708-214418.jpg

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