For the longest time, I’ve wanted to write about Jason’s quite out-of-the-ordinary encounter at the hawker centre.
There he was, having lunch with a friend at a hawker centre when a very normal looking middle-aged man came by at their table and said he was hungry and asked if they could buy him lunch. Not sure if he was one of those rogues or ne’er-do-wells who preferred begging to working, they just ignored him. Moreover, he didn’t have the slightest look of an impoverished, filthy beggar.
It was just a little while before he noticed Jason’s friend had stopped eating and asked if she still wanted the remaining rice and fish soup. And in the next few moments, he was busy helping himself to the left-over. Guilt-stricken, Jason offered to buy him a new lunch. However, he declined and requested if Jason could buy him a drink instead, breaking out in sweats and explaining the peppery soup was too spicy for him. He got his drink, of course.
I couldn’t be more stunned when Jason finished his story. Couldn’t the man find something less demeaning to do with his life? What had reduced him to stooping so low? What could make him push back all dignity to publicly eat what’s left over on a plate by a stranger? It can’t be just the will to stay alive, can it?
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1 comment:
I think the guy had something really bad happen to him recently. Like you mentioned, "he didn’t have the slightest look of an impoverished, filthy beggar". So, I'm guessing something happened and his inability to remain calm and cope with the situation lead him to this sort of behavior. Emotions always make us do things that we usually wouldn't even think about doing.
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