A Generous Donation
A homeless man receives a beautiful gift.
Busy. Everyone is so busy. The constant mantra: there’s no time.
One season falls and springs into the next. Another year passes by. Christmas. Passover. Birthdays. Weddings. Children are born, grandkids, too. You wake up and suddenly 25 years have melted away because you were too busy. What happened? This is not just a city- thing… it goes on everywhere. Be still for a moment. Listen. Learn.
In this poignant one-page short - amid the hustle and bustle of honking horns and obscenities in the air - we meet a dreadlocked 60-year-old homeless man. Suffering from dementia, he lies on a sidewalk surrounded by filth. The sign he holds up asking for financial help includes:
“…I won’t remember your face, but I will remember your generosity….”
As people walk by they add coins, and his donations accumulate… until:
A young woman with long flowing auburn hair stops, looms over him like a heroine and gives him something far more valuable than money.
In just a few lines, writer Warren Duncan reminds us what is of true value. One measure of success in our society may be money; but you’ll never get your time back. Tragically, no one can.
“…Is this the little girl I carried? ...
I don’t remember growing older…
When did she get to be a beauty?
…Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset…
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laden with happiness and tears…”
“Sunrise, Sunset”, from Fiddler On The Roof Lyricist, Sheldon Harnick Composer, Jerry Bock