Living in the ghetto, or bad parts of bad cities can give you a new perspective and insight on how the world affects everybody differently. Read this story. I think it's a very powerful one, and you'll probably agree.
So I was walking down the street in my neighberhood the other day, and I needed change for a $20 bill, so I asked this random guy if he could break a $20, thinking nothing of it because I was raised in small towns, not the streets of Houston.
Anyway, he replies that he only has $17 and I think to myself, that's fine it would be nice to bless somebody with $3 extra dollars, and I didn't particularly need it while he looked like he was going through a hard time in life.
So I handed him the $20 bill and he looks at me and says "This is my $20 now."
And if you know me from the past, perhaps a few years ago I would have snapped and maybe even fought him because I mean, you don't let somebody take $20 from you. But I was filled with this radiating energy of joy and appreciation for life that day, so I genuinely didn't care and laughed and said "Okay you take that money and take care of whatever you need to do."
He looked at me bewildered and you could see guilt and shame flash across his face, and he replied "What time do you get off? Meet me back here at that time and I'll give you the $20 back."
Of course, I'm no idiot so I don't get my hopes up, but still I go to that spot when I get off of work and of course he's not there. I go on with my life thinking I'll never see him again, but I just ran into him maybe 20 minutes ago, he reached out to shake my hand and you could just see the guilt and shame on his face about that $20. I instinctively told him, I genuinely don't care about it and hope everything worked out for him.
He told me things got worse and he actually just got shot at a few minutes ago. I said I'm sorry and I hope things get better. He said "Man I'm so sorry about that $20 I was raised in the church and lifes not supposed to be that way."
Again I reiterated to him that I genuinely didn't care. That was a very touching moment for me because I could see through that interaction that my entire perspective of the world had changed because a few years ago if somebody stole $20 from me I would have went bezerk.
His perspective was entirely different. While I could tell that he was genuinely sorry about the money, he also turned around at the end of that conversation and basically said "I know you have money, so from the bottom of your heart please lend me $5 I'm trying to get home and off the street."
I unfortunately didn't have the money on me at the time so I couldn't do so and I let him know that. He then said that if I didn't have cash surely I had my credit card and could buy him a pack of cigarettes. I sensed that he was going through alot and desperately needed that pack of cigarettes as a form of escape from reality.
However at the same time him taking that $20 from me taught me a valuable lesson about the manipulative spirit that lies deep within all of us and can work harmoniously with the good side of our conscience. So I had to decline because I wasn't being manipulated out of more money lol.
However here I am writing this story because it really effected my perspective on the way the human mind works. Maybe if you're more fortunate than me financially and find yourself in a similar situation you can actually buy him a pack of cigarettes, or better yet help him off the street and remind him how much more to life there truly is.
If you read this story and it didn't touch you, I'm sorry for the waste of time. If it did then dwell on it because I think it tells a beautiful story about the nature of our universe.
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