This I Believe

This I Believe

        You are walking down the street alongside a group of friends, when you happen to notice an impoverished, poverty-stricken man who is holding a sign reading, “Every penny helps.” Your friends just walk past him without even batting an eye. What do you do?

        A few years ago, I actually encountered this very situation; a group of my friends and I were visiting an old classmate in the city. As we were exploring the city, we rounded a corner where one man was sitting, shoeless on the sidewalk. I stopped to read the sign that the man held between his crossed-legs and drooping head. My friends complained that I shouldn’t stop. But, instead of following along with them. Being that we had just left from working out, I happened to have a pair of old running sneakers on me. I lent down and just placed the sneakers next to him and slipped the few dollars I had in them as well. The look on his face is one that to this day I have never forgotten.

        The next day we happened to pass by the same area on our way to lunch, and I noticed the man still sitting there. But, something was different this time. He had written another sentence at the bottom of his sign….”People are better than I once believed.”

        Prior to this experience, I had always believed in giving to the less fortunate, but this allowed me to fortify my beliefs. I believe that, no matter how large or small it may be, everybody should have to attempt to contribute to the less fortunate because the result has the potential to go a long way. Also, I believe that us as humans grew as a team, not as individuals, so by lending any help to the less fortunate helps enable us to grow together.

        Everybody encounters a point in their lives when they have the opportunity to help a less fortunate person, and that opportunity should be acted upon. The contribution does not have to exceed what the donator can afford or else it will in turn hurt them, but any amount of a charitable act will help humanity as a whole. By stating that everybody should or must give to the less fortunate, I understand that there will be rebuttals from people saying that there is a reason that those people are less fortunate, or that they should have to work for their money like I did, or the less fortunate will just spend money on negative things (i.e. drugs, alcohol). First, are people living in poverty less fortunate or are those who are wealthy more fortunate? Fact is that nobody was able to choose which social class they were born into or even which family they were born into. There is also the illusion that people living in poverty do not work. But, according to one study (Waldron, Roberts, & Reamer, 2004), poor working adults work about 1.2 full time jobs a year (2500 hours). Lastly, the stereotype that all poor people are alcoholics or drug-addicts is ridiculous. A majority or homeless people are mentally handicapped, and now homelessness in children is rising as well. One in 45 children in the United States experiences homelessness each year (Analysis by Laura Tach at Cornell University).