The homeless man that refused my twist donut
If you are not hungry in the morning, you’d be mistaken. Getting up to go to work is a hassle for most people’s daily lives. One, in particular, going down to the donut shop, Ms. Donut, a local business in Orange, CA. While there, I buy two donuts that are twists, one with chocolate on it that I ate with water to drink and the other twist with regular glaze on it that I was going to save for later while taking breaks in between jobs. However, though after eating the chocolate twist, I didn’t feel like eating the glazed donut anymore.
So I leave the Ms. Donut shop as I jay-walk across the street to the park noticing the small lake and the ducks everywhere in it. On the other side of the lake, I see a man laying down on the park bench wearing dirty clothes with an umbrella underneath the bench. He appeared to be sleeping in the sunlight as I get his attention as I show him the donut twist. He looks at the donut then back at me then back at the donut twist only for him to wave me off as he puts his head back down on the bench to go back to sleep. I really couldn't understand or do anything about it because I wouldn’t allow a piece of food that I’d bought to go to waste. Eventually, I give the donut twist to another person in the park as I headed off to work bagging grocery orders for customers online. What puzzled me about it was why would this homeless man deny free food from me?
The question bothered me for a couple of days to the point where I’d have brief discussions either with family or friends. To that point, it came across as they tell me to not make a big deal out of it, if the bum didn’t want the donut, theirs always another person who’d accept it or not. Though eventually, I looked around seeing other regular people in the park that an employee mowing the park grass appreciated the twist donut he received from me. The realization from this is that no matter how much I’ll give out of my own heart, not everyone is going to be receiving what you’d given them. Regardless of who anyone is trying to be helpful to any homeless person, that most likely the odds are they’ll just rip you off. A key example is where if you see a homeless man by the grocery store, park, under a bridge, or next to the freeway entrance holding a sign there are no guarantees if they’ll accept food or not. You could go up to any of them and they’ll possibly say no. Instead, they’ll possibly turn down the food and ask for money and go buy alcohol or drugs for their own addictions.
Still, even today living in the present it's the thought that counts. Rather than just buying yourself a treat like two pieces of twist donuts, why not give the other half to people less fortunate. To think of it, whatever reason the guy had to deny the twist, he should have just swallowed his pride and received free food. All I can do is speculate and move on from it.
The most chances anyone could do is be grateful for what they have than to people that have less than you. It’s not always easy to get up in the morning to do a job that is repetitive but it provides and with whatever money you have leftover you could give it to another person with barely anything. Surely, one could have pressed the homeless man to take the damn twist but you wouldn’t want that confrontation with anybody because it's unpredictable. Every morning for him, he wakes up hungry most days, living outside, and not wanted anywhere to call a place home. It could make anyone feel sad that people like that make bad choices, burn bridges, are mentally ill, or have no family that they live out on the streets trying to survive. Try to give to the less unfortunate so that in a way these people could be treated like regular human beings. For a little piece of hope could give them a spark to want to change for the better.
