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Encountering a Beggar on the Street |
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Early this morning, my mother dragged me along to buy groceries. The crowded
streets were slowly moving as people pushed and jostled past one another. As I
complained, I squeezed my way through the sea of people.
Suddenly, there seemed to be a blockade ahead, with people shouting loudly. My
mother and I struggled to get to the front to see what was happening. We saw a
middle-aged man with no shirt sitting on the ground, wearing a pair of worn-out
shorts that were now covered in dirt. His left leg was wrapped in thick
bandages, indicating that he was disabled.
Many passersby had already become impatient, grumbling, "What's he doing sitting
in the middle of the road? Doesn't he know he's blocking the way?" "Yeah, on
such a hot day too!" The man showed no intention of moving and instead stretched
out his leg in the middle of the road, holding a cracked enamel pot to beg for
money from pedestrians. He seemed to have been starving for a long time, with
only skin and bones left, cheekbones protruding, sunken eye sockets, and
dirt-filled, yellowed nails. Seeing that no one was giving him anything, the man
continued to stretch out his withered hand and shake his bandaged leg while
pleading with a slow tone, "Please show some compassion. I'm a disabled person."
However, more and more pedestrians rushed past him without offering any help.
When I was a child and saw beggars kneeling by the roadside, playing sad tunes
on their erhus, I always felt sorry for them. I thought they might have fallen
on hard times and wanted to help them out of their predicament. But now, more
and more people are testing our kindness, and "beggar" has become the best
profession for those who refuse to work for a living.
On the way back, the man still sat in the middle of the road, grinning and
shouting loudly. Looking at him, I suddenly remembered a sentence by Nie Hualing:
"One less person in the world." |
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