Friday 8 July 2011

A moment of grace

We exited the restaurant slowly, our bellies full; asking ourselves why we did it. Why did we order dessert? I'd had more than my share of crab and oysters and those penko breaded shrimp dipped in sweet chili sauce.

And there he sat, on the grimy curb, his baby toe poking out of the hole in his left shoe.

"Can you spare some change Ma'am?"

I squeezed my three year old's hand praying he wouldn't go into the Why mode. The man looked to be in his late thirties. His face was leathered by the sun. A dirty beige baseball cap perched on top of his shaggy greasy hair. I could tell he was good looking even through his disheveled appearance. Anger didn't grip me like it sometimes did when I was solicited for a cigarette on my lunch break at work. I didn't size up the expensive tattoos on his arms and turn disgustedly away.

A softness came over me. A vision of where I'd been a few minutes ago flashed in my mind. Me with a plateful of expensive food at my fingertips. A glass of decent wine on my right. I looked to my husband who already had his wallet out. He grabbed the lone bill, a five, and handed it to the man. 

"Bless you Sir, bless you." His deep blues eyes watered with gratitude. 

We walked to the van in silence. The usual thoughts didn't make an appearance. I didn't care that he might be headed to the liquor store right that minute. It made little difference to me what he spent it on. And to my utter amazement, my inquisitive son did not ask one single question all the way home.

This week the ladies wanted us to push ourselves out of our comfort zone, try something new. I decided to go with a much shorter post than usual. It scared me a little not to over-do the scene, so you'd really get it. But then I remembered how smart and savvy you all are.

18 comments:

  1. What a beautiful post! I love it! I'm always scared or skeptical when that happens to me, but you showed your son the meaning of generosity! priceless!

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  2. I love the world through your eyes. Long or short you paint it so beautifully and so completely.

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  3. They say don't give it if you are worried about where it is going or wanting it back. Just give. :) Nice post!

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  4. Wow. Just ... wow :-)

    The most important message that I got from this is how children make their parents better people. When you are a parent, you have to think more; you have an inherent awareness that the consequences of your actions are going to be taken in and examined. Even when kids don't react to something we expect them to, their very existence (and the possibilities raised) often changes the way we act.

    Powerful ...

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  5. I love the way you just gave to this man without judgement. That's real pure grace right from the heart. It was a pleasure to read this post.

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  6. Maya was full of questions in Seattle where we came across far more homeless people than normal. And like you, I found it hard to ignore them when I was on a vacation eating fantastic food and spending money pretty freely. I explained to her that some people just don't have the good fortune of having people in their lives who can take care of them or love them and that seemed to do the trick. But explaining these things is really hard!

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  7. The beauty of young children is that they don't judge. The beauty of your writing, Kim, is that you write so honestly. It would have been hard not to judge this man, or automatically think he was going to spend the money on alcohol. It's probably what I would have done. To give to someone, without judging that person is how I want to be. Kim-you are so wonderful:)

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  8. I LOVE the short. it really added to the poignancy and importance of the moment.

    Words like these - leathered by the sun- still brought the descriptives.

    Very powerful post!

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  9. You always manage to say so much in such few words. Poignant and beautiful as always.

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  10. I had just finished eating a big supper when I read this, and my stomach gave me a few guilt twinges - good job!

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  11. A good teaching point for little ones. I remember very clearly my dad stopping to give a homeless man a $20 in the sleet once on Christmas Eve. He said, "No one should be without family on Christmas". It has always stuck with me and served to remind me to show compassion.

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  12. Fabulous and touching...You have a writing gift Kim!! Children don't question as much once they are used to seeing something...he must be used to seeing your generosity. Well done!

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  13. This is a lovely post Kim. Your sons will learn so much from the generosity of spirit exhibited by you and Shaune. Your writing always pulls on my heart strings and makes me think. Thank you Kim.

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  14. This kind of simplicity is sometimes hard. We want to over detail it.

    And you showed such thoughtfulness and honesty in this. Questioning your usual thoughts and choices... allowing pure generosity to rule the moment, and seeing yourself reflected in our child's eyes.

    Lovely. Just lovely.

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  15. this post is an extension of the scene you wrote about. pure. to-the-point. no questions asked.

    lovely.

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  16. This brought a tear to my eye.

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