An Anecdote with Reflection:

Going Inward to go Upward and Outward

Here in Johannesburg I live across the street from a little shopping mall.  At the signal out in front of the mall I often see a guy standing in the street with a sign that says something to the effect of “I’m homeless and have no food, please spare some change.”  Two quick points about this scenario:  First of all, this homeless beggar is actually a white man, which is an extremely rare occurrence in S. Africa since the whites are almost always the rich minority zooming past the poor blacks walking the streets in their brand new BMW or Mercedes.  Secondly, seeing as how I’m quite fond of walking and skateboarding and doing pretty much anything that gets me outside without using my car, I’ve done more than simply drive by this man (you really do see more when you’re walking along the way rather than driving), and in walking along the opposite sidewalk from where he stands with his sign I’ve found that there’s actually two of these white beggars, and they take turns manning the sign out in the street while the other one lounges under the shade of a tree.