arthritis little stories - Zhongshan Story - Compassion

I was in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China for the treatment of my rheumatoid arthritis which have been getting progressively worse with the years. After staying two weeks at Hotel Fu Hua, I shifted to an apartment in "Zhong Ken" a thirty five storey building. It was here that I had stayed for almost two years.

Every Saturday, my sister who works in Macau would cross over the border to Mainland China to visit me. We would have lunch, usually at the Zhong Ken food court. At the end of each meal the leftovers of any meat or vegetables side dishes were never wasted. My sister has an endearing habit of distributing these leftovers onto freshly ordered boxes of rice. Taking a ride on a trishaw she would go looking for street dwellers to give these food boxes to. The reason she did this she told me was that these people often salvage food leftovers in dust bins. Better to give it to them decently in food boxes. It was from her that I came to know the whereabouts of these street dwellers staying in bustling downtown Zhongshan.

One day, as my sister and I were walking towards Zhong Ken, a young man in his early twenties approached us. He told us he had just arrived Zhongshan and is hungry and had no money. Could we help him. We have been advised by our China friends to walk away when approached for money. Instinctively, we walked away. The manner of the young man and perhaps also our conscience made us stop after taking a few steps. My sister and I, we looked at each other debating whether we should give. It took us only a moment and we decided to give. It was a very small sum. My sister backtracked and gave the money to the youth and we thought no more of it.

A few months later on one of her weekend visits, my sister went out to buy provisions for the house. When she came back with the provisions she was beaming all over. Obviously someone or something had made her happy that morning. She asked me if I remembered the youth who had approached us for money a few months ago. She said the youth was there again today; at the place where we had met him. The young man told my sister that he had been keeping vigil at this same place for some time now with the hope of meeting us again. He had now found a job and just wanted to say thank you. Having said that, he left.

In all the years of giving to strangers I had never known for sure, whether they were genuine. This single act of acknowledgement by the youth had renewed my faith that it is not wrong to give. I am forever grateful to that youth for the lesson learnt.

Remember :

To make the less fortunate happy,
practice compassion.

To make yourself happy,
practice compassion.

To make me happy,
donate.

I help and support charities and homes for orphans,
deaf and handicapped children in Chennai, India.
It takes little to provide for these children with
the basic essentials of food, clothes, shelter,
medicine and also a basic education.

As my rheumatoid arthritis has gotten worse to the
point that I am now house bound, I have decided
the best option to me now to help these charities
would be by appealing for donations through using
the net.

If you have the resources,
have faith, donate.
Any amount will do.

Thank You

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