How I’ve Been Enriched by Beggars

In every man there is a king. Speak to the king, and the king will come forth.

Outside our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a seemingly ancient woman on crutches waited beside the door with her hand outstretched. Every day I put my hand in hers as our eyes met. She never failed to return my smile, my grasp, and my sin chau greeting.

On the last day of our visit, I found myself alone on a busy corner across the street from our hotel. Bicycles and motorbikes careened in front of me. We had been advised to walk straight through the teeming traffic without looking right or left. Let them avoid us.

But tonight I was by myself and felt inadequate to face the torrent of vehicles. As I hesitated on the curb, I felt a hand on my elbow and looked down to see the smile of my small beggar friend looking up at me. She nodded her head toward the street, indicating that she would take me across. Together, we moved slowly into the chaos as she gently prodded me forward.

When we reached the center of the crossing, I looked down at her again, and couldn’t resist exclaiming, "You have the most beautiful smile."

She obviously knew little English, but must have recognized the tone, for she threw both arms and crutches around me in a big hug, while the traffic streamed by us on both sides.

Then we precarious moved on toward the sidewalk, where she pulled my face down to hers, kissed me on both cheeks, and then limped away, still smiling and waving back to me.

I had not given her a single coin. We had shared something vastly more important - a warming of hearts in friendship.

This experience remained me of something Mother Teresa once said: "If you cannot do great things, you can do small things with great love."

To look beggars in the eye and smile, thus acknowledging their existence, is a small thing. Putting your hand into another’s outstretched hand and grasping it firmly for a moment is also a small thing. Learning to use a greeting in the local language is not too difficult. But these are important.

For many reasons, giving money is not the best response to an outstretched hand. Many world travelers have discovered that the greatest gift they can give is their time and friendship. Everyone needs recognition, to be seen as worthy of attention, to feel appreciated and loved.

Traveling in poorer nations, I have witnessed a variety of ways to deal with beggars. The most common response of tourists faced with the poverty-stricken is to ignore them and focus their eyes elsewhere. I have seen people push away an outstretched hand in angry annoyance. A few may hastily drop a few coins into a beseeching palm, and then execute a quick getaway in hopes that another 20 ragged pursuers won’t immediately appear on the scene.

But I feel it’s worthwhile to try to live by the words of English author John Cowper Powys: "No one can consider himself wholly civilized who does not look upon every individual, without a single exception, as of deep and startling interest."

I once spotted a legless man sitting by a road at the Pushkar Camel Fair in India. I was returning to my tent after recording the exotic music of the dancing men of Pushkar and was replaying the music on my tape recorder. When the man’s smile lured me to join him, we began to communicate in the kind of sign language and laughter one learns while vagabonding around the world.

After mimicking the whirling skirts and sticks, I showed him how my tape recorder worked. He motioned for me to give it to him. I hesitated, but only for a moment. After examining it carefully, he began to sing a hauntingly beautiful song, indicating that he wanted me to record it and take it home as a memory of our time together.

Moments before, we had been total strangers: suddenly, we were cemented in a momentary friendship born of our common existence in this world. His eyes shone as we exchanged names. My experience with Vidur confirmed the truth of the Scandinavian proverb: "In every man there is a king. Speak to the king, and the king will come forth."

I’ve learned that those considered the world’s most hopeless are so often rich in humanity, with hearts yearning to be affirmed - and ready to respond.

My life continues to be enriched by connecting with everyday humanity. Each time I do this, I rediscover that what I have been given is far beyond monetary value. And I reaffirm that everyone is worthy - and worth knowing.

在每個人內心都有一個國王。如果你想與他交談，國王就會出現。

在越南胡志明市里我們旅館外面，有一個頗似古代人的老婦人倚著拐杖，伸手在門口等著。每天，當我和她目光交匯時，我都會把我的手放在她的手里。她也會對我的微笑、握手及問候報以同樣的微笑、握手及問候。

在我們參觀的最后一天，我自己一個人，在旅館對面街道上一個喧鬧的角落里。自行車和摩托車在我面前猛沖直撞地行駛。有人建議我們徑直穿過擁擠的車流，不要左顧右盼，以免他們撞到我們。

可是到了晚上就我一個人了，面對急流般的車流，我感到很不適應。當我在街頭猶豫的時候，我感到在我胳膊肘處有一只手。我向下看了看，看到那個身材矮小的乞丐朋友微笑地望著我。她朝大街上點點頭，意思是她帶我穿過大街。她輕輕地推著我向前走，我們一起慢慢向人群糟雜的地方走去。

到達十字路口的中央時，我又低頭看了看她，情不自禁地說了一句：“你的微笑最美麗。”

很顯然，她不懂英語，但她一定可以辨認我說話的語調，于是她扔開拐杖，張開雙臂擁抱我，此時，大街上的車輛都被我們涌到兩邊了。

這時，我們蹣跚地向人行道走去，她把我的臉拉向她的臉，在我兩頰上各吻了一下，然后一瘸一拐地離開了，還不時地回頭向我微笑和揮手。

我沒有給她一分錢，但我們卻一起體驗了友誼的熱情，這更有意義。

這個經歷讓我想起特蕾莎修女曾經說過了一句話：“如果你做不了偉大的事情，那就用偉大的愛心做點小事吧。”

用眼睛和微笑看待乞丐，認同他們的存在，這都是很小的事情;把你的手放在別人伸出的手里，緊緊地握上一會，這也是小事情;學會用當地的語言說句問候的話也不很困難;但是，這些都很有意義。

出于多種因素，對于伸出手來的乞丐來說，給他們錢并不是最好的回應。很多世界旅游者發現他們所能給予的最好禮物是他們的時間與友情。每個人都需要認同，需要關注，需要感激和關愛。

在貧窮的國家旅游，我親眼目睹了與乞丐打交道的多種方法。面對窮人最常見的回應是不理睬，還有轉移注意力。我曾看見有人非常惱火地把他們的伸出來的手推開。還有一些人急匆匆地把幾個硬幣丟在他們乞求的手掌里，然后就快速地離開，生怕馬上又看見20多個衣服襤褸的乞丐追上來。

但是，我感覺能夠按英國作家波伊斯說說的那樣生活還是很有價值的，他說：“如果一個人不是對他人無一例外地懷著深厚、莫大的興趣，那他就不能說自己是十足的文明人。”

我曾經在印度普虛卡駱駝節上見過一個沒有腿的男人坐在馬路邊，我錄完舞蹈家普虛卡的外國音樂后，就回我的帳篷，路上重放著錄音機里面的音樂。我被他的微笑吸引住了，于是向他走近，我們開始用手語和笑聲談論起來。如果要在這個世界上流浪，這些都是要學會的。

模仿過旋轉的裙子和鼓槌后，我告訴他錄音機是如何運轉的。他向我示意要我把錄音機給他看看，我只是猶豫了一下便給了他。他小心檢視過錄音機后就開始唱歌，歌曲很優美讓人難以忘懷，他向我示意把歌錄下來，這樣就可以帶回家回憶我們在一起的歡樂時光。

不久之前，我們還完全陌生。突然間，瞬間的友誼把我們緊密聯系在一起，我們的友誼誕生于我們在這個世界上的共同存在。我和Vidur的經歷證實了斯堪的那維亞的一句格言：“在每個人內心都有一個國王。如果你想與他交談，國王就會出現。”

我明白了，那些被認為是世界上最沒有希望的人卻經常富有人性，他們的心靈渴望被認同，也樂于做出回應。

與平凡的人保持聯系，一直豐富著我的生活。每次這樣做的時候，我都發現我所收獲的遠遠不止金錢的價值。并且我再次堅信，每個人都是有價值的――值得你去了解。