Take out / To go
Just awhile ago in the mall foodcourt I witnessed a sad sight of a middle aged man sitting down on the table with the left overs of earlier diners. His face look slightly embarassed but seems determined to pick up the left over food. He is wearing decent clothes, doesn't seem to look that poor or maybe he wears those clothes to get past the mall guards. I was watching him a bit and is half expecting the guy to eat whatever he picks up but he didn't and he puts the left overs in some yellow plastic bag. I've heard of people collecting the bones to make broth to feed one poor family, but this guy collects everything... this scene is just too sad.
An everyday sight is that old lady outside the condominium building in Shaw who is begging for fare, what I find annoying here is that she is there everytime. What I find sad however is that she's at the age where she should be at her grandchildren's homes or be living in retirement. There's this trio group of grannies who travels from all over begging for money, I don't know how they can survive with just change.. in a third world where change isn't worth much.
In some cities giving change to those people would be illegal probably because of the existence of government agencies like DSWD who are supposed to take care of these people but are these agencies really picking up these people? or do they just leave those places and go back to the same place? I'm not sure if I've given much time thinking about these things.
Whenever I see these people I remember the old saying about giving the poor man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach him to fish and he'll feed himself for life. I can't bring myself to give alms to the scammy lot but at times there are really those authentic ones that desperately needed help. One solution I've thought about is to help send these unfortunate people back to their provinces where they'll help grow their own communities. The capital is over populated now, many people from the provinces are always thinking there's money in here. They should realize that they'll do a more productive job in their own provinces. Whenever I see some mother-son/daughter asking for change I sometimes think to myself and ask them questions of how they got there... and if they are interested in heading back to where they came from? those are little children walking up to traffic for change...
