kar·ma/ˈkärmə/

Noun:

(in Hinduism and Buddhism) The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in... Destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.

Optimism isn't my forte..by a long shot, but being a nice person I generally I try to be. So when a person stopped me on the street today, telling me that they lost their wallet and needed money to get back home, I did what naturally everyone would have done; ran in the other direction.

Just kidding.

What everyone should do is put themselves into that position. What would you do if you lost your wallet and were stuck in a different city. I know that it would kill me to swallow my pride and ask a complete stranger for money for a train ticket. Even if they didn't give me any money, I would know that they would look at me with either pity or rage and judgement would be passed over a mere 1 minute conversation. Is that fair to anyone?

Conversely, there is a second position to consider also. What puts a person into such a situation that they HAVE to beg or ask for money. No one wants to be considered a "bum/tramp", or wants to have people pity or judge them.

This man, whose name I unfortunately didn't catch, looked genuinely frazzled to be asking for some money, and appropriately embarrassed.

Either way, today I helped out someone. Sure I lost 20 quid, but money is just paper. Sometimes it's important to remember that even though you may not have everything in the world, there are people who have less. Plus, I am a Buddhist after all.