Street Corners

There are many people on the street corners in Jo'burg. Some are trying to sell you something. Some of them are begging. Some of them want to wash your windshield for a little money. It can be overwhelming at times to be constantly bombarded with sellers, beggars, washers and random other people at the stop lights.

The people that really get to me are the mothers sitting on the corners with their children begging for money. Often the kids are crawling and walking in the median strip making me nervous that they are going to fall into traffic. There are days where I've seen the same people sitting out on the corners for hours....with their children. What child wants to sit by a busy street and beg for money? It breaks my heart. It makes me mad that these women are teaching their children to beg. It overwhelms me to think that if I give them 5 rand they will be able to buy a loaf of bread today, but there is no way to provide for them tomorrow. It’s like putting a band aid on the problem. The little change I give them doesn't really help them in the long run. And it even encourages them to stay on the corners and beg and repeats the cycle of poverty.

I must be honest and admit that there are many days when I can drive past these people and not really think about the poverty they live in. I've gotten so used to seeing them, that I don't really see them.

Today there was a mother at one stop light who had her baby strapped to her back. But this mother wasn't begging. She was trying to sell pens and nail clippers. I've seen her before and bought a pen from her once. I like that she is trying to sell things to make a living. Her child is seeing her work hard to provide for them. Today I was pretty far back in the line of cars. The woman didn't get near my car until right before the light turned green. As she walked down the long line of cars, she had a pretty smile on her face. She said good morning to the people who had their windows cracked open. She was polite and friendly.

Then the light turned green, so I went. Had she made it 2 more cars I would have bought a pen from her again. I was about to brush it off as I usually do when I see people on the side of the street, but then I looked in my rearview mirror and saw her face. Her smile was gone. She looked tired. Worn out. Like she was about to lose hope, or had already done so. And my heart broke. I just kept thinking "Why didn't I stop and buy something?" Sure, the cars behind me would have been mad. I probably would have heard a bunch of horns beeping. And I would have another second rate pen littering my already dirty car. But perhaps, just maybe, if I had bothered to stop and help her she wouldn't have felt quite so weary and hopeless. I kept thinking "Whatever you do for the least of these you've done unto me"....and I didn't take the opportunity to help "the least of these" because a stop light turned green! Sometimes my stupidity amazes even me. Good thing our God is a God of second chances...and third and fourth and ten hundredth chances. Hopefully the next time I have the opportunity to help someone, I won’t let the chance pass me by.