A Stranger

Last evening, I had a chance to have dinner with two colleagues. After dinner, we took a walk in downtown Yorkville area. We went into Hazelton Center, a shopping centre. Since it past the business hours, all the stores were closed already. We walk slowly and enjoyed the window-shopping.

There was a man carrying a sack-pack on his back walking toward us. He seems like an average father…. wearing a clean T-shirt/jean with a middle-age choppy figure. He stopped us and said,

Man: “Hi! I am from Nova Scotia. Are you familiar with the area?”

We: “Not quite.”

Man: “Do you know there is a place like food bank sponsored by Mt. Sinai Hospital around here? I am kind of lost here. I have seisures, Epilepsy. The people said that there is something like food bank around here. I am very hungry. (He was shaking slightly all the time.) I beg the people to have me work in the restaurant, but they rejected me. I am not homeless or taking drugs, but many people have rejected me. I am so hungry, and all I want is a sandwich to eat.” Then, he sat down on a bench and seemed very depressed. His body was still shaking.

At that moment, I did not know how to react, but was figuring out what he was saying. I remembered there was a food bank around Yonge Street, but just couldn’t recall it. Besides, all we 3 girls were standing there, and thinking of the words moms used to tell us….”not to go with strangers, especially men.”

A colleague then took out some money and gave it to him.
She said, “please go buy a sandwich for yourself around the corner.”

Man: “Thank you very much.” He expressed it with great gratitude. Then he left.

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I felt quite bad/sad afterward. It’s not that I did not give him money, but because what he said and what I did not do.

- He must be very frustrated as he told us (the total strangers to him) his sickness and how people rejected him. Why? Probably he really encountered the coldness of human being. In reality, it seems a usual practice to reject people with disabilities, illness, and anything seems ‘abnormal.’ It's very discouraging, but what would Jesus do if he is the restaurant owner? How about me/you? Have we mistreated people?

- At that moment, I shall at least take him to look for a yellow-page at a phone booth. There must be information like food bank / job agency / medical information there. My head was just too blank to think of anything like these, and even forgot to pray at that moment. I just let him go. He can feed himself up by a sandwich with that few dollars, but how about tomorrow? If I can meet him again, I hope I would help him as much as I can.

I do not know how he is doing now, but I pray that God would guard him, heal him and give grace to him.