The honesty, that heart of everyday people here, observed, translated…
He handed the fish to me, I’d paid him, nothing owed, and I should leave willingly, but, toward this, eight-feet tall, head-of-a-leopard” fish vendor, with two bags on him, one made of cloth that hung around his neck, the other, a fanny pack around his waist, I’d felt, odd, and, found, that the money he’d pulled out to make the changes were from his fanny pack. Could it be, that that cloth bag, was only, a sort, of, an accessory for this middle-aged tall-in-stature man, or, is it, used, for something else?
a fish stand at the marketplace like this…
Being “grandma curious”, I’d asked him. He’d opened his eyes wide, glanced over at me a bit, then asked, “You’d seen this bag before?” I shook my head, stuttered, that I just wanted to know what it’s used for. He’d replied, “this bag around my neck, it was from a customer who’d, dropped it when buying fish from me, it’d been three weeks since I’d found it, because there was NO identification in it, I can’t contact the person who’d, lost it, so I can only, wear it around my neck, to see if the owner will come forth.”
As I’d heard him explained, I can’t help but commend him on his honesty, he’d lightly stated, “it’s not my money, so naturally, I can’t take it for my own, even though there’s not even a thousand dollars inside, for a family of four, if you don’t go on a splurge, that’s enough, for two, three days’ worth of, groceries, money is really hard to come by these days, I just want to return this purse to its, rightful, owner soon.”
This rough-around-the edges man, who might even make others fear a bit, can actually, be so gentle in his mind, and now, I have more respect for him, I’d, given him, a thumbs up.
The vendors who’d worked hard to make the measly amounts for a living, unmoved of this money that got dropped into his laps, and wore the purse around his neck that someone’s misplaced, with the heart of finding its, rightful, owner, and empathized, with how the individual might feel at losing the purse, and money too, so real, so kind, so honest, so, genuine, he’d, moved me a lot.
And so, it wasn’t, a fashion statement that this fish vendor was making, he was wearing that purse around his neck, hoping that the individual who’d lost it can come and claim it back, and even though, there is the few thousand dollars that’s inside the purse that he’d picked up, he’d not taken it for his own, because he empathized with the individual who’d, lost the purse, and it’s this sort of a heart that we are in need of more around the world right now. His honesty is simply, amazing!
Life, the Obstacle Course 