The Beggar Called John
Once again I was sitting around, looking for
some food. As the trash had got removed the day before, I could only get food
by begging. My stomach rumbled, the last meal I had was long ago. Luckily, I
was still alive and the rain had stopped, so the temperatures increased and
made the begging more convenient. But this could change very quickly here in
Cape Town. Cape Town, what a lovely city it used to be, before I got poorer and
poorer. Let me briefly tell you, how I got stuck in this situation.
I had been married to the most beautiful woman
in the world; me, John, and her Catherin, were so lucky. But after a car
accident, she died in the hospital. I had big troubles afterwards, it was like
a vicious circle. First I received the instant dismissal, consequently I wasn’t
able anymore to pay the bills. Finally, I landed up on the street.
During the five last years nothing had changed,
so I got up once more and walked to place where I perhaps could succeed. I
passed a storehouse of a builder, some joist sticks out of the fences. The
noise of a deep mumbling of a car reached my ears, the driver of the storehouse
wasn’t used to changing gear. After I had passed the storehouse, I sat down,
with my butt on the ground. I placed my can with the cold tea right next to me
and started to look for people who had more money than me. I wished I could
reheat my tea, but my lighter unfortunately was empty. Hence, my only hope was
to get some money to buy a new one.
That moment, I realised that a girly man was
approaching. I didn’t really like the gays, but I didn’t care about the money’s
origin either. I bagged him to give me some money, but he ignored me and kept
on starring at his cell-phone and texting his boyfriends. The same way it
happened with an emo, a young guy thinking that he has the swag. Then passed a
beautiful looking young girl, with a thinness, which suggested to have been on
many diets. It was the usual behaviour from most of the pedestrians: Ignoring
me and keep on walking.
But that day, one person completely changed my
life. A man, who was the same age as me, walked towards me with a bright smile
on his face. I hadn’t seen many people with that attitude so far. A lot of them
are so stressed, but this guy wasn’t only a teeny bit stressed. He stopped
towards me and started chatting with me. That was one of the biggest pleasures
which I had during this challenging time. He just made my day!
But instead of stopping the conversation and
leaving me alone, he asked me if I was hungry. I answered him: “Yeah, I am!” In
that moment, my life started to change. He invited me for lunch! It was just
unbelievable. We went to the next restaurant, he placed his keys on the table
and asked me what meal I would prefer. Shy as I am, I mentioned that I hadn’t
eaten meat for ages. So he ordered a beef-burger for me. When the waiter asked
him which size he’d prefer, he answered “the biggest on you have”. I had never
enjoyed a meal like that one ever before.
Afterwards, I went out of the
restaurant, absolutely thankful, and was filled with a never-known joy. This
was the beginning of my way out of poverty and life as a homeless beggar. I
could break out from the vicious circle pulling me deeper and deeper. With the
new-gained motivation I was able to double my daily income. I could afford new
cloths and I applied for a job in the factory of the man who invited me for
lunch that day. Finally, I am now able to live a normal life, being a shining
example of what a kind action to a poor man can trigger.
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