Why yes, that is a baby sleeping in the trunk of a bicycle. Can I say trunk? Whatever; the cart like thing being pulled by the bike. Anyway, it was weird and kinda cute, so I took a photo of it. Now, this baby was being closely watched by his mother, who was selling fruit next to him, so it wasn't like child abuse or anything of the sort.Flash forward to today:
Emily, Melissa, their Chinese roommates and I went to one of the shopping markets today. Before going to the market, Emily had to stop at the bank. En route, she turns around (I was talking to Emily's roommate) and says "Take that photo! It's like the one you took a couple of weeks ago!" I saw what she was talking about: it was a father sitting on the side of the road, cradling his child. Immediately, I recognized that he was begging for money, in an indirect way. Emily was skepitcal. We came close to them, and saw the sign in front of them, asking for money. We walked on to the bank.
Emily got her money out of the ATM, and we started to walk back, past the beggar and his son, to go to the bus stop. When we passed them, I gave the man 20 kuai. This immediately lead to a discussion between Emily, Melissa and I.
I never give money to homeless people in America. I donate my time to charities, and that's it. Why? Because I feel like in America we have the social systems in place for people to get help. In China, these systems (such as Welfare or homeless shelters) don't really exist. So, my feeling is, if the case seems legit (obvious handicap, parents+kids) I'll give them some money. I don't know why I do it - other than I feel bad.
By luck I was born to my parents; I could've been born to this man, sitting on the side of the street.
I guess I'm bringing this up because it just bugged me and made me sad. China has such a juxtaposition between the haves and haves-not. And by being a Westerner in China, I am even more attuned to how really wealthy I (being a member of my family) am. The BeiWai area doesn't have poor people in it, really. This was the first time I've seen a beggar here in about 2 months. But nonetheless, it was sad to see a man craddling his child, sitting on a sidewalk.
And no, for those who are curious, I didn't take that photo.
2 comments:
LOVE the photo! It's worth enlarging, framing, and hanging on a wall somewhere.
Apropos the photo you didn't take, it was thoughtful of you to be so respectful and to avoid objectifying that man in his distress. Perhaps if a similar situation arises in the future, you could warmly and respectfully request permission to take a picture. Then your prospective subject would not only have to say "thank you" to you for your donation but would also get to hear it from you.
Keep taking those great pics!
So, are you losing weight during your stay?
Have you started dreaming in Chinese yet?
Dr. S
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