When I lived in Indonesia, I went to Bandung for recreation. In one of the red light, a little kid offered me to buy a newspaper. I can’t read local language, but I felt for the kid who with big smile and enthusiasm tried to persuade me to buy the paper. I thought I would reward him with a little money for his effort.
So I said in broken bahasa, "Look I don’t read bahasa newspaper, but I would like to thank you for your big smile and enthusiasm." I then handed him eight thousand rupiah which is about 80 cent dollar, 3 times of the price of a newspaper. The little boy thanked me and run to his group of friends, street sellers who were sitting around in a short distance, there were 7 of them all together. I could see how excited he was when he shared the money and the story of his encountered with me.
He pointed to my car from the short distance of where he was. All his friends waved to me as if to thank me. Soon after I saw a little girl from the group ran towards my car. Suddenly I thought with a displeasure and disappointment. “Here we go, you give to one, the other will ask for the same or more”. The thought of that made me disappointed and killed the joy of giving I had a moment ago. So I was ready to say no to the girl, not because I don’t’ have the money, but simply because I don’t want to tolerate such behavior. Begging for more, ungrateful… so I thought.
To my surprise and confusion, the girl handed me out with her little hands a thousand rupiah note (10 cents), and said: "Uncle, there are only 7 of us, you gave us 8 thousand, and we have received your generosity, and here is the remaining of the money. It’s yours".
I felt my face redden and hot, from the shame of thinking bad and misjudging the little girl. I was so embarrassed and proud of the little girl at the same time. My heart filled with more joy and so touched with the scene in front of me. I reached my wallet and gave another dollar for her to share to her friends. She went away after thanking me many times: “thank you uncle, thank you, thank you…”
I should be the one who thank her for the great lesson and experience I had from her and her friends. ***
(the story above was written based on a humbling experience from a friend of mine, an expat who lived in Jakarta for a few years)
So I said in broken bahasa, "Look I don’t read bahasa newspaper, but I would like to thank you for your big smile and enthusiasm." I then handed him eight thousand rupiah which is about 80 cent dollar, 3 times of the price of a newspaper. The little boy thanked me and run to his group of friends, street sellers who were sitting around in a short distance, there were 7 of them all together. I could see how excited he was when he shared the money and the story of his encountered with me.
He pointed to my car from the short distance of where he was. All his friends waved to me as if to thank me. Soon after I saw a little girl from the group ran towards my car. Suddenly I thought with a displeasure and disappointment. “Here we go, you give to one, the other will ask for the same or more”. The thought of that made me disappointed and killed the joy of giving I had a moment ago. So I was ready to say no to the girl, not because I don’t’ have the money, but simply because I don’t want to tolerate such behavior. Begging for more, ungrateful… so I thought.
To my surprise and confusion, the girl handed me out with her little hands a thousand rupiah note (10 cents), and said: "Uncle, there are only 7 of us, you gave us 8 thousand, and we have received your generosity, and here is the remaining of the money. It’s yours".
I felt my face redden and hot, from the shame of thinking bad and misjudging the little girl. I was so embarrassed and proud of the little girl at the same time. My heart filled with more joy and so touched with the scene in front of me. I reached my wallet and gave another dollar for her to share to her friends. She went away after thanking me many times: “thank you uncle, thank you, thank you…”
I should be the one who thank her for the great lesson and experience I had from her and her friends. ***
(the story above was written based on a humbling experience from a friend of mine, an expat who lived in Jakarta for a few years)
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