Thursday, March 29, 2007

a helping hand

I take the public transport very often, commuting from Seremban, where I live to Kuala Lumpur, where I work and meet-up with friends. These short travels exposed to me many facets of humanity and in particular would be one long-haired-soft-spoken man and a rather rounded lady. I see them very often at bus stations, train stations and shopping malls.

Both of them, I have helped as in, I gave them money. I know that they are charlatans, conartists and they make a living out of cheating others. They tell the same story about losing their wallets or they forgot to bring cash with them and they are in dire need of buying a ticket to get somewhere because a relative is ill. I wonder if they have such good memory that they remember who they have taken from and who they have not. They probably end up approaching the same person twice!

I am not sure if they know each other, that they belong to a gang or some sort. Well, the reason of my bringing up this story is because I saw the long-haired man today at the Seremban bus station, putting on his act and leveraging on the symphaty of his victim. He managed to ask for RM20.00 from a person who might thought he did an act of kindness.

The long-haired man saw me and perhaps recognised that I was one of his earlier candidates and so quickened his steps.

I am sure both of them will remember me because when I handed them a small amount of money on two unrelated incidents, I said, "I know you are lying to me and you do this all the time. You walk around searching for people to take from them their hard earned money. You tell sad but very unbelievable stories. I want you to remember that one day, if someone genuinely comes to you for help and not like you pretending, you will sincerely extend a helping hand. This is why I am giving you the money."

I really hope the day will come.