Got myself in a situation of facing two elders who happened to be fake beggars today. They were not the typical beggars who just sat by the side of the street or under the bridges. These two were as healthy as any elders of the same age can wish to be. I was walking under a bridge to cross the street. Just then, the old man stopped me as I was about to make by way to the other side of the road. This old man had an accent that was quite hard to understand. When he first approached me, I thought that he was just some old man coming to Beijing for the first time and was lost. So I stopped and gave him a chance to speak. I had a hard time making out what the guy was saying, but then, I heard the word “money”. I understood immediately; he wanted me to give him money. Instantly, a realization washed over me: they weren’t lost; it certainly wasn’t their first time in Beijing; they were swindlers!

       This recognition shocked me a bit. For a second I could not think of what I would do next. Then, I thought, well, these two look quite old, if they are willing to make the effort to be half frozen to death in this weather just for a couple of bucks, I might as well spend a few minutes and listen to what they really want to say. Soon, the old woman who was walking with the guy came toward us too. The first thing she said was ask for money. Together they completed the story of how they are from ShanDong, and they are all out of money and are extremely hungry and thirsty and that their train back is tomorrow night. Their near-perfect acting was go convincing that I’m sure that someone who was very generous would have given them the money.

       Even though I knew that they are using other people’s empathy to get money without honestly earning them, the idea of giving them something and go still lingered in my head. It’s true that they don’t deserve other people’s empathy for they trick people to give them money by play with natural emotions of human and use the empathy that all of the good-hearted people have to earn a living. It’s no wonder that nowadays, a good proportion of the population do not go help those in poverty out of a sincere wish for them to elevate their living standard but rather out of peer pressure and for their own reputation. So back to the story. Just as I was debating whether I should just let these swindlers go by give them a few bucks, another middle aged woman called me. She waved for me to go to her and said, “Hey student, come here! You are going the wrong way!” I knew right there then that she was there to save me. She meant to get me away from the two beggars even though we were strangers to each other. What a good-hearted person!

       These days, the number of free-riders who make a living by faking beggars is increasing day by day. Yet, from today’s incidence, it’s not hard to see that though it seems like “bad-guys” are everywhere, there’s still plenty of people who are willing to help others and be charitable from the bottom of the heart. Looking on the bright side, the “real world” out there is not so scary as many of us imagine, for most of us will likely to meet at least one person who will aid us and always be beside us to be our guiding light.