Selfish Luck

August 30, 2010

I have seen the photos many many times but it was only now that it struck me.

Photo by Clem Jimenez.

I can clearly remember this man carrying a big black bag. He is so thin, dirty and can hardly even walk. His right foot can no longer carry his weight but he seems to be going somewhere. We were in a market and due to traffic flow none of us could go down to hand things over to him. We passed by him but we couldn't take going ahead not giving him anything. It was very obvious he's exhausted. We are running out of male clothes. "Oh no, please we gotta give him something. Look for food", - my loud thoughts say; then we found a bag full of last minute donation by one of the coaches. We called this man and as he approached the van, this was what we saw. The sun is at its peak and he's all sweat but he was trying really hard to show a smile to thank us.

At the comforts of my home, I was planning how the video would be when I stared at this photo. I noticed his nose hair. I zooomed it because I couldn't believe my eyes. He can't even cut the hair from his nose. I just bursted into tears and it melted my heart and told myself I should have done more. It wasn't enough. I complain about little things every now and then. I look for better places, for more of a lot of things and it was so selfish of me to even feel lucky seeing another's suffering.

The actual Tenfold experience has given us so much to learn but I didn't know it would give more even after it's done. Photos are powerful.