One Dollar!!!!
It was a chilly winter morning in New York City. Temperature dropped down to almost -11 degree C. Wind was blowing heavily as if the city was facing tornado. I finished my job early; came out from the school and started running in the direction of subway station of 116th street to catch the train, it is two blocks away from the school. The 116th street is one of the areas of Harlem where there is a large number of poor African American people lives and where I am doing my part time job in one school. In other words if you want to see what is poverty in a prosperous country like America, one should visit this area. You will find many homeless people carrying luggage in their hands, searching for food and shelter either side of the street. You can always find long queue near food bank, people standing in a queue with helplessness on their faces.
Oh God! How can I forget my woolen cap and winter gloves on a day like this? Chilly wind was entering my ears. I was trying to hide my hands into the pockets of my thick jacket and pulling my shoulders up, my face was helpless. I was not able to even walk properly on the footpath. I wanted to reach the station as soon as possible as I was not able to withstand that freezing wind blowing directly on my face. I couldn’t run because surface was slippery due to heavy snowfall in late night. I passed two blocks and finally reached the station, felt a sigh of relief. It took me about 15 minutes to reach to the station, 7 more minutes than normal day. Of course Subway station was underground so it was little bit warmer and you can be protected from wind. I rubbed my shoes’ soles on the steps of the station to remove snow from it. I was too tired and wanted to drink something, generally people prefer to have hot coffee in this disgusting cold but I hate coffee, I was looking for a soda machine. Normally I avoid drinking or eating at the station. Station was relatively small than other subway stations of NYC. I checked each and every corner of the station; finally found one vending machine for soda. I inserted my hand into my pockets to find change of $1. Damn it! I didn’t have any change and started feeling very low. I was having 20 $ bill but was not having enough change. My $ 20 was useless at that time as machine was not accepting $20 bill. I said to myself “Man! I need only 1 not 20” Almost six feet tall African American old man was watching me from a corner having white beard. He was looking like homeless, wearing white jacket which was very dirty, looking like it had not been washed since many years. He felt that I wanted to have something from machine and because of not having sufficient money I was not able to get what I wanted.
He came to me and said “hay young man you need anything??” I moved back only to see his horrible face because of fear that he might rob me. (As robbing is very common in this area) Again he said” My son, don’t be afraid of me, I came to help you out. You look very much tired. You drink something and charge yourself. It seems you wanted soda and you don’t have enough money. Do you need?” “No, thank you sir. I …I…don’t need anything. I have 20 bucks but don’t have change “ I said with a panicked voice, as I was still afraid of him because of his appearance.
“Don’t worry my son, take this one dollar and take out what you want.” I was really shocked and surprised, one homeless who didn’t know me or I didn’t know him was offering me money to have something!! I was really stunned, I said “No man, I can’t accept this money, this is yours, and you will not have money after giving it to me” .He said “Don’t worry my friend, I still have 1 dollar left with me”!!!
I didn’t take money from him, but that incident shook me a lot. That night I was not able to sleep!!! One dollar was everything for him. One Dollar was one time of meal to him, One Dollar was tasty hot dog for him, and One dollar was hot coffee for him in this chilly winter day!!!
Train of thoughts ran whole night in my mind, why that homeless old man came to help me?? Why he wanted to give me one dollar?? I got only one answer for all my questions; it was only humanity and nothing else; which has broken all the barriers in this materialistic world.
It was a chilly winter morning in New York City. Temperature dropped down to almost -11 degree C. Wind was blowing heavily as if the city was facing tornado. I finished my job early; came out from the school and started running in the direction of subway station of 116th street to catch the train, it is two blocks away from the school. The 116th street is one of the areas of Harlem where there is a large number of poor African American people lives and where I am doing my part time job in one school. In other words if you want to see what is poverty in a prosperous country like America, one should visit this area. You will find many homeless people carrying luggage in their hands, searching for food and shelter either side of the street. You can always find long queue near food bank, people standing in a queue with helplessness on their faces.
Oh God! How can I forget my woolen cap and winter gloves on a day like this? Chilly wind was entering my ears. I was trying to hide my hands into the pockets of my thick jacket and pulling my shoulders up, my face was helpless. I was not able to even walk properly on the footpath. I wanted to reach the station as soon as possible as I was not able to withstand that freezing wind blowing directly on my face. I couldn’t run because surface was slippery due to heavy snowfall in late night. I passed two blocks and finally reached the station, felt a sigh of relief. It took me about 15 minutes to reach to the station, 7 more minutes than normal day. Of course Subway station was underground so it was little bit warmer and you can be protected from wind. I rubbed my shoes’ soles on the steps of the station to remove snow from it. I was too tired and wanted to drink something, generally people prefer to have hot coffee in this disgusting cold but I hate coffee, I was looking for a soda machine. Normally I avoid drinking or eating at the station. Station was relatively small than other subway stations of NYC. I checked each and every corner of the station; finally found one vending machine for soda. I inserted my hand into my pockets to find change of $1. Damn it! I didn’t have any change and started feeling very low. I was having 20 $ bill but was not having enough change. My $ 20 was useless at that time as machine was not accepting $20 bill. I said to myself “Man! I need only 1 not 20” Almost six feet tall African American old man was watching me from a corner having white beard. He was looking like homeless, wearing white jacket which was very dirty, looking like it had not been washed since many years. He felt that I wanted to have something from machine and because of not having sufficient money I was not able to get what I wanted.
He came to me and said “hay young man you need anything??” I moved back only to see his horrible face because of fear that he might rob me. (As robbing is very common in this area) Again he said” My son, don’t be afraid of me, I came to help you out. You look very much tired. You drink something and charge yourself. It seems you wanted soda and you don’t have enough money. Do you need?” “No, thank you sir. I …I…don’t need anything. I have 20 bucks but don’t have change “ I said with a panicked voice, as I was still afraid of him because of his appearance.
“Don’t worry my son, take this one dollar and take out what you want.” I was really shocked and surprised, one homeless who didn’t know me or I didn’t know him was offering me money to have something!! I was really stunned, I said “No man, I can’t accept this money, this is yours, and you will not have money after giving it to me” .He said “Don’t worry my friend, I still have 1 dollar left with me”!!!
I didn’t take money from him, but that incident shook me a lot. That night I was not able to sleep!!! One dollar was everything for him. One Dollar was one time of meal to him, One Dollar was tasty hot dog for him, and One dollar was hot coffee for him in this chilly winter day!!!
Train of thoughts ran whole night in my mind, why that homeless old man came to help me?? Why he wanted to give me one dollar?? I got only one answer for all my questions; it was only humanity and nothing else; which has broken all the barriers in this materialistic world.
No comments:
Post a Comment