Hands-on

“What if I can find a coin?”

While a poor man was walking on the sidewalk to report on his work, he saw a coin.  He picked up the coin quickly and went through continuously.  The hungry man dropped by in a store and bought some breads for his family.  Every day, the man walked on the sidewalk and always looked the ground. He did walking in the morning and evening as well.  Sometimes, he found a cent, a quarter, a dime or a dollar or more coins in a week. From that on, he felt more excited to look at the ground and found more coins as the days passed by.  He bought of what his family needs from these coins.

While a poor man was walking on the sidewalk to report on his work, he was always face down looking for a coin. The poor man’s neighbor greeted him, “Good morning!” The poor man did not notice her because he was seriously looking the ground to find a coin. He did that for several weeks. The following month, the poor man’s best friend was smiling at him when his friend was nearly approaching him. He did not notice him because he was looking down again for a chance of finding a coin. He did that routine for several months.

One day, there was a road accident that occurred wherein two people died and some people were injured.  The poor man passed by again in the same pathway he used to be his way.  He was not bothered because he kept looking the ground and never look the people that coming in to rescue the victims.  When he arrived into his home, he felt excited and happy to give his few coins that he had found in the whole week for his wife and only child.  He called them by their names one by one but no one answered.  He looked at them inside the house but no one there.  He waited for several hours inside the house until he fell asleep.

That afternoon, he heard the voice of his neighbor calling his name.  Her neighbor told him that he should go to the hospital because his wife and only child got an accident. He rushed into the hospital with the plenty of coins in his bag after hearing the bad news. Unfortunately, his wife and only child did not make it. They died after few hours in the hospital due to severe head injuries from the road accident which happened that day in the same road where the poor man used to pass by.  The poor cried loudly and never stop crying until no more tears coming out from his eyes.

His neighbor said to him while tapping the poor man’s shoulder, “You missed the greetings of your neighbor when they passed by on you because you kept on looking on the ground with face down to find a coin.” His friend said to him as he cried, “You missed the smile of your friends when they passed by on you because you kept looking on the ground instead of looking the beautiful surroundings around you.” Another person whom the poor man did not know him personally had said, “Now, you missed your family which supposed to be with you all the time. You gave more value the coins on your hands than to the people around you.” “You missed their smiles, laughs, pains, sadness….and all their feelings and emotions.” ” Now, you cannot bring back the things that had happened and done.” “But, still”, the person continued, “there is always a room for improvement so you have to act right now.”

From that day, the poor man directly looked at the peoples’s eyes and had a friendly conversation with them.  The people around him extended their help by giving not only a box of coins from their savings but also more money bills to the poor man. The poor man said, “Thank you, You are more than the money that I had now.” Despite of the sorrow he had felt because of the death of his wife and only child, the poor man realized that the people around him show their love, care and concern for him.  He had witnessed the great smiles on their faces when the people said “Goodbye”.

Tags: attitude, coin, emotion, family, feeling, life, money, moral values, short story, writing