[Roger Slater]

Alex's story is certainly not "leftest" by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, I suspect that it would have broad bi-partisan support throughout America and that Mitt Romney would do his best to feign a tear while telling it himself. If one is intent on bending over backwards to find a political message in every anecdote ever told, then I suppose one might imagine a leftist objecting to the story as endorsing American/British colonialism, with the fair-haired colonialist engaging in a petty act of noblesse oblige by giving a downtrodden native a taste of indulgent Western footware. That would be silly, of course. Whatever your politics, it's hard to imagine anyone could actually find a private act of kindness and charity offensive.

But Alex did not ask us to draw political morals or to generalize, and he did not make the story up to illustrate a point. He was simply doing what people do from time to time, i.e, sharing a story of something he observed that he found striking and of possible interest to others. It didn't involve government or politics or mandates or business or anything of the kind. It was just a story of someone doing something nice. Perhaps the only sad aspect of the story is that it was considered unusual enough to warrant sharing. And the title Alex gave the thread indicates his basic default expectation that people generally aren't like this, an observation that ought to redeem things for Skip.

[Pedro Poitevin]

When I was training the Guatemalan national Olympic mathematics team, there was a kid whose mother woke up every Saturday morning at 2am so she and her son could ride a bus (departing from their little village in the middle of nowhere at 3am, and arriving in the capital city at 6am) and attend the training sessions. Sometimes they wouldn't bring anything for lunch except fruit. (The kid was very good at mathematics, though, of course, he hadn't had the opportunities for nurturing his talent that other kids in the group had had.) Years after leaving the country, I don't know exactly what became of him—I'm sure he isn't a mathematician (I have a way to know) and that the poverty that struck his family is still a staggering problem in his community. I also know that there are many other kids like him. It certainly isn't hard to imagine circumstances that might have caused his life to go downhill—a minor blow, and a kid whose mother makes enormous sacrifices to get him ahead can see his fate radically change direction. This is why the presumption that the homeless are necessarily mentally ill or else slackers offends me. It betrays an embarrassing lack of intellectual rigor, true, but it also betrays kids.

Pedro.

[Skip Dewahl]

Listen, Pedro, next time read my whole post, especially the part where I mention "those that have given up on life" and actually "live" on the "streets". They still have the chance for a better life. I said nothing about people who still have a shelter, but I did suggest that were rents lower there wouldn't be so many homeless. It is easy to wax eloquent with "splendid insincerities", as H. G. Wells once observed in his Outline of History regarding the Roman philosophers. One can imagine such a learned person being charitable, as well, saying this to a roadside beggar, "There, my good man, take this cup of wine from Bacchus that it may bring you good fortune", and getting into his litter, all the while worrying that the slaves don't have his meal prepared yet.

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

In Amit Majmudar's poem, "Professor Librescu", human kindness is depicted without any cloying sentimentality.

Duncan

[Michael Cantor]

Wow! Incredible poem. And yes, the back story involves a massive act of kindness - saving the lives of others - without any sentimentality. Thanks for posting, Duncan. Thanks for writing it. Amit. Thanks for your selflessness, Professor Librescu.

[Pedro Poitevin]

Wonderful poem!

Pedro.

[David Anthony]

Originally Posted by AZ Foreman

I was sitting in a shisha-shop in one of the lower-middle class neighborhoods of Alexandria today, and saw a blonde (and I think British) westerner (tourist?) walk past a homeless guy sitting on the street. On seeing that the homeless guy was barefoot, said European guy took the Nikes off of his own two feet and handed them to the homeless guy. The homeless guy tried to refuse, but the blonde dude pressed them into his grasp and said, in broken Arabic, انا لا محتاج. انت اكثر محتاج "I not need. You needing more" walked away. The homeless guy put the shoes on and ran over to blonde dude and hugged him. Blonde dude hugged him back, and walked away.
The homeless guy was crying, and so was I.

Seems an odd thing to do. How would he know the shoes would fit, and how is a homeless guy going to get away with wearing Nikes in a poor part of Alexandria? Better to give him money, I'd have thought.
When you say 'blonde', is there some particular implication?

[Michael Cantor]

Good point, David. But if you give the homeless guy money, instead, there's still a problem of his being robbed in that poor neighborhood as soon as he tries to use it to buy anything. Possibly something safer could be arranged through PayPal that would also eliminate the need for all that hugging and touching.

Alternately, he could wear the sneakers, and use them to walk to a better part of Alexandria, and he would still be homeless, but upscale homeless, the streets would be flooded with welcoming security guards so there would be no need to worry about anything being stolen, and people could give him more useful articles of clothing - dress shoes, a good shirt, a necktie - without fear.

[Jayne Osborn]

The homeless guy put the shoes on...

...so they obviously 'fitted' him (well enough, anyway). They may have been a half- or even a size too big, but hey! who'd mind that, compared to walking around shoeless?

If the homeless man's feet had been too big for the shoes I reckon the outcome would have been the same: he'd still have run after the 'blond dude' and given him a hug of gratitude, but insisting that he keep his shoes. Then the blond guy would probably have proffered money instead, but what he did in the first instance was a spontaneous gesture - and they are definitely the best kind of all!

Jayne

[John Riley]

My office building is around the corner from the homeless shelter. I've met a few of the men when they were trying to get clean. I never give them money. I'm not buying their wine or dope. If they say they're hungry I'll suggest we walk around the corner to the McDonalds and I'll buy them some food. Sometimes they take me up on it, sometimes they don't.

I'm one of those bleeding heart hypocrites who is willing to buy an occasional Big Mac to make myself feel warm and fuzzy, without regard for the societal damage I'm causing.