30 • <strong>February</strong>/<strong>March</strong> <strong>2016</strong>
Mary Ann Kirby couple of years ago, I was walking back to my then-downtown office from lunch and noticed a man up ahead that clearly looked as if he had fallen on hard times. He was leaning against the wall watching as I approached and just as I did, asked if I had a dollar to spare. Now I knew he was going to ask me that but what proceeded to come out of my mouth was astonishing, even to me. I said, “I don’t have a dollar. I even had to charge my lunch.” And while I’m quite certain the guy doesn’t take American Express or care, for that matter, that I’d been faced with the grueling decision between cash or credit, he still managed a gracious nod as I passed him by. I felt guilty–and ridiculous. It got me to thinking, though, as I continued on, what should I have said? Better yet, what could I have done? It was the second incident in as many weeks that left me with the same question. The week before, my son and I had made a trip to Yazoo City to see my grandmother. On the way there, I noticed an older man standing alongside the highway trying to fix his bicycle. His front wheel was lying on the ground and there was a sign on the back of his bike that said, “Broke and hungry.” I instantly wished I’d known how to fix a bicycle–but kept driving, nonetheless. I mean, you never know about people, right? Well three hours later on our way back, we passed that same man now riding his repaired bike down the shoulder of that same highway having made it a good distance from the original sighting. It was as if God was giving me a second chance to redeem myself. I told my son, “I wish there was some way we could help him,” and he said, “OK, but how?” And in the time it took us to wrestle with what to do, at 70 miles per hour, we had traveled another half-mile down the road–still not stopping. It weighed on me. So that day, downtown, as I carried my purse in the crook of my arm channeling my inner Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, I once again failed the exercise with which I was presented. The man on the street was seemingly broke and in need and I did nothing to help him. You know, Lazarus was overlooked repeatedly and look how that story ended. How else could I have helped? A sandwich and a bottle of water may have done just the trick–just like the sandwich and bottle of water I’d bought myself a half-hour earlier. I mean, the fact that he’s willing to suffer an existence of poverty and begging rather than turn to a life of crime suggests to me that he might actually be of high moral character. I say that sort of jokingly, of course. The point is, who are we to judge? And what does that sandwich cost in the grand scheme of things? Well, based on the story of Lazarus, it could cost me everything. Regardless of how we act or think in those situations, we could each do a little more to help those who have a lot less. And in reality, the “beggars” in our lives are not limited to those penniless and on street corners. We’re surrounded by people starving emotionally, spiritually, and socially–and how we feed them matters. So as we embark upon a new year, I’d like to offer a prayer for peace and new beginnings. I pray that joy will fill our days, peace will fill our hearts, and love will fill our lives. I pray that we’ll be blessed with all the good things God has to give and that we will all live in love and truth in <strong>2016</strong>. n <strong>Hometown</strong> <strong>Rankin</strong> • 31