Those homeless men that sleep on top of the heating ventilators surely provoke strong emotions in me too, including shame. And I always wondered why was it that I feel these things, but I cannot transform the emotions into actions?

It was one of those days with cold morning with brutal wind chills. It was warm just the day before, so I went outside with just a thin shirt and no jacket. And as the wind chill seared my skin, I passed by this man that sleeps on top of the ventilators, and I thought to myself, it must be so damn cold for him. Nevertheless, I continued to go my way. Behind me was this homeless man with a cart full of recycle materials, digging through garbage. He too, gazed at the men, but proceeded to take out few cardboard boxes and wrapped the guy with them, saying "hey man, it might help."

The rest of my walk, I kept thinking about what happened. How is it that he could so easily offer his fruit of labor to another person, when I just continued my walk indifferently? Was it that he was just genuinely a nicer, caring guy than me? Was it that he could empathize better with the other man's plight, and thus felt stronger urge to help him out? Or was it that he shared a strong friendship with the sleeping man that I didn't have?

I am still struggling with these questions. If you have any insights, I would be really interested. -KayKim