Shouldn’t we be more conscious about the outer world?

Just yesterday as I was walking towards a parking bay on my way home, I was passing a tramp, and at a distance, he was waving and screaming at me: “Just wait there, just wait there!” Almost as if giving me an order. And yes. I froze. Stood still. But being unsure. As while this tramp nears me, his friend, further away also comes closer. They seemed tempered; at the same time in rags and tatters. And yet still. I immediately felt a bit threatened by this homeless neglected middle-aged man’s informal approach. A bit drunk, but with a strong body-build for someone who rarely gets something good to eat – not to be mistaken about. Suddenly I became aware of his hand suspiciously “hidden” in his pocket and his odd body language. Perhaps a knife he is hiding and just wait at the right moment to do what he needs to do?, I asked myself quite anxiously as the other one also came closer.



“I don’t have any money”, I said in haste and became in a hurry myself. He stopped me again, and then politely asked me: “Don’t you have a R2 for me. I don’t have any bread – I live on the streets.”

As he talked a daily routine, I realized, I only then at that instant moment also became aware of how bulgy my wallet stood in the left pocket of my jeans, and quickly tried to hide it with my sweater, my silver watch on my arm.

“Please, we won’t hurt you.” the other one replied as the first still talked non-stop. I asked questions such as Why do you live on the streets? And Why are you not living at your double story house anymore? “I don’t have any money.”, I replied in finality, anyway. “No, I’m not lying.”

Should I just give the R2 to these people just so that they can see I have more? Will they grab my wallet at this time . . . Will giving them what they want let them learn that they will need to work for themselves? . . .

At the intrusion of my thoughts, a hand came out of the pocket of the man who approached me first. There was no knife. In fact. He looked even more . . . Desperate? For food? Or was it sympathy they had sought? Or was that vulnerability? Did they fell vulnerable? To whom? Vulnerable to their selves? Of life?

“I don’t have any money.”

This incident urged me to realize how vulnerable, in conclusion, we all as human beings really are. And how desperately we need each other more than our worldly possessions. Of how we must also, at the same time, become more aware of the things that we can prevent in our future life. Because it’s only us. We decide how we want to live our lives. Then we are also fully responsible for whatever happens alongside and inside of our lives.

I cannot give anyone the blame if it would have came that I was mugged. Because I didn’t really thought about the fact that I can get mugged. I can’t say it would’ve been anyone else’s fault when I would have lost my credit card and debit cards and never took the time to plan and write down all those details down and store it in a safe place.

At the end of the day, we must become aware of the things around us. The little things we cannot see with our fast bypassing lives.