Look At Beggars In The Face

I’m not sure if it’s only me who feels uncomfortable with this attitude. I honestly feel irritated when I see it happen. I wonder, why can’t you just look him in the face. Is he not human? I know he looks wretched, wearing rags and smelling awful, but he is still human. He deserves recognition as one.

Just look him in the face.

That right there sums up my heart-wrenching moments every time I spot a beggar soliciting help from individuals who will not the least look them in the face and recognize their presence.

The Gesture Is As Valuable As Money

I understand almost everyone is struggling today because of the COVID pandemic and its social and economic impact on our lives. So many are working twice as hard these days, working double hours, juggling multiple jobs to expand their income streams. People are engaged in physically and mentally enervating jobs to ensure their family survives this period. And very much, I also understand how upsetting it can be to encounter vibrant but indolent young individuals who will not work but choose to be on the street begging for money.

With all of this admission, I still believe when you meet beggars and derelicts, please resist the urge to look away. It’s alright if you can not offer them something — money, food, clothing, all the good stuff. But I feel it not alright to disregard their presence as if they are less human. Don’t look away, don’t turn a deaf ear to their call. I’ll admit sometimes looking away seems easier than looking them in the eyes and not being able to help them.

But looking at them in the face rather than looking away without a word, is more valuable than any money you can offer them.

A Show of Love and Acceptance

Beggars and derelicts already in their lives feel deflated. They contend daily with a degraded sense of self-worth. Harsh life experiences have broken their stride and left them with a defeated mindset that the world and everything in it is against them. They think that nobody loves them. Even worse, they believe they do not deserve to be loved.

They need no one to tell them they are nothing. They feel that already, every day from countless rejections and dismissals. They shy away from people; they live a life of seclusion, avoiding people and open spaces.

A simple kind gesture of recognizing their presence and sparing them a little of your time and attention becomes more valuable than any material thing you could offer them.

You’re doing so much for them by just recognizing their presence — with or without supporting them with food, water, clothing or money.

You show them love and acceptance when, with a broad smile, you look into their eyes and tell them, “Hey friend, I don’t have anything for you today, maybe some other time”.

A Sign of Hope and Possibilities

You guide them to see and believe in something beyond their current situation.

Looking the homeless in the eyes, and sharing a quick word with them, with or without material support, uplift their spirit. You’re feeding their bruised souls and reviving their sunken hope. You’re restoring faith in them.

A simple gesture like striking a minute conversation with them whiles on your way to work improves their mood. You subliminally melt their frozen hearts and sow seeds of desires. You spark a fire in them to want more than what they’ve resigned themselves to.

You guide them to see and believe in something beyond their current situation.

Sharing a quick chat with them goes a long way than you may have imagined. Understand that your effortless hand waves every morning, with your whitened teeth gleaming through your broad infectious smile, is more valuable than any money you can offer them.

You’re inspiring them and reviving hope in them. Maybe one day you will pass along the same stretch as always and not find them there, because you unknowingly inspired them enough to get their lives back together.

You Make The World Safer

The world would be safer if everybody was human

I believe strongly in this statement. I believe not every human being is truly human. But I lend myself to the hope that we can all become human — more humane.

There are so many people with callous and inhuman personalities, and such personalities cover a broad spectrum — jerks, bullies, racists, abusers, narcissists, terrorists. So many people are walking around with a disease I call inhumanity. They’re infected and are infecting other humans with this disease. The world is cruel and chaotic because we have a humongous number of people walking around with this disease.

There is so much cruelty, and indifference in our world today, and the internet aggravates it. On social platforms like Twitter and Facebook, people hide behind the safety of their laptops and mobile devices to slander and bully vulnerable folks. Everyone speaks their mind without measuring the potential damage they are having on others.

So in such a chaotic world, a self-centred world, you are contributing to making our world less chaotic. You’re healing the world of this destructive disease by deciding to be generous and kind.

If everyone invested a little of their time to focus on others other than themselves, then we can increase the net happiness in the world.

When we share our happiness and blessings with others, especially people without the immediate capacity to repay us back, we gamble on their betterment, and we might end up winning because they later change, change from their vices and begin to contribute to society in their own small way.

We stamp out evil and crackdown world pain and hurt when we attempt to uplift others and offer them the chance to experience the same goodness we’re enjoying in our own lives. Dong this mitigates envy, hate, and hurt, which are often driving factors that incite people to cruel and criminal activities.

I believe that the world can be a lot safer if everybody was indeed human. If we all became more humane in our day-to-day activities.

Final Thoughts

Beggars and derelicts, actually every human being, with or without, deserve to be treated as human. When people feel loved and cared for, only then are they compelled to act humanely. Remember, hurt people hurt people.

A smile and a brief engagement could help relieve someone of his pain, which then starts the needed transformation of their minds and hearts.

The next time you come across a beggar or derelict, literally anyone who could do with a tinge of kindness, don’t look away, remember the least you can offer them is to look them in the eyes and smile.

Now let’s go about our day healing the world, one soul at a time.