the cat and the beggar

Everyday we are faced with dilemmas that we must break down and obtain a conclusion. Often these dilemmas won’t paint the picture of your future- but they will often help define ones character.

Today, I’m sitting in an enclosed courtyard in the heard of Seoul enjoying the sun while I eat my breakfast. Now, to my left I have a shoeless man laid out on a bench shifting about, while roaming behind me I have a stray cat. This is where my dilemma comes into effect.

I always feel the need to help- though I wonder if my lending a hand is effectively helping. Let me break down my conscious.

Each time this man gets a handout- even something as small as a bek won (10cent equivalence) it is sealing his fate as a beggar.  Each time that a caring individual come by with a sandwich is for longing his stay on the streets.  What is it going to take to get these people to fit back in with a society that they have turned against opted for nonconformity or has overlooked them?  Understand that each individuals story varies intensely (I cannot discuss the hard times because I have not lived nor studied the injustice of some of these cases)- what can we do or what should we do, when many of these people are unfortunately and I will abrasively spell this out useless to society. Whether they’ve been affected by drugs or have been a foreigner for so long they wouldn’t know where to begin- so what do we do?

We have a government – which luckily to us is grazing over the intent of our well-being.  But do these people not count or have they opted for the road less travelled. Should we use force to institutionalize and rehabilitate these slackers and dropouts and give them jobs cleaning up the city?  Or do we toss them a nickel or dollar when we see them balled up on the street and hope they make it till the next day.

Unfortunately, I think the latter is all we can do right now aside from bring them into our own homes. But let’s face it, we all have our own lives to live and how long does it take for the vision of the beggar to be dislodged from out memory after we’ve either helped them or past them by.

I take another look at the roaming kitty and place two balls of rice on the winding granite bench- hoping that it learns to fend for itself and grows strong enough to pass up a couple of blank spoonfuls of  rice. 

                                                            Written at the courtyard beside Toma Tillo in S.K 6/11/2009