Still worrying about being played for a sucker, I agreed to take the man’s watch and give him 30 Euros. (NOTE: I have needed a watch for some time but have usually gotten by for a half a year with a cell-phone clock.)
I turned away after praying for the guy.
After about 50 meters, I looked at the black man from Michigan as he trudged up the Biebricher Road.
That Michigan man did not stop walking and take a bus as I had anticipated him doing if he was just tricking me out of my money.
Instead, he passed the bus stop.
Then, in the rain, the young man continued his walk up the road as though he was on a great mission, which would take him on a circuitous but safe route in a few hours to Shierstein.
“Hopefully, [if that is where he is meant to be], the broke man would be on a plane back to Michigan in a few days, “ I thought.
Who knows?
At least I’ve got a Nike Watch.
CASINO CONNECTION*
WE ALL have a chance in our lives to take a chance on others.
I don’t mean that other readers should be reckless enough to chance throwing money away at or on beggars from foreign lands as I possibly did last night
On the other hand, I believe, “At least taking a thirty-euro chance on this apparently homeless thirty-year-old Michiganite is better than throwing my money away in a casino. There, in the casino, my chance to help someone is none once the money is gone.”*
The main character in GRAN TORINO had rolled the dice, too,--i.e. on a young man who had try to steal his own car from him.
What chance are you going to take on humanity today?
What kind of mentoring can you offer young people today?
