Desperate

The desperation of the homeless here is startling. I realize there is a wide income gap in America, but it must be wider in China. Yesterday, I saw a guy driving a brand new Ferrari down an alley next to a man with no legs pushing him along on wheels.

Everyone seems to play a role in society and the most menial of tasks are jobs. It is common to see people selling all kinds of things - sweet potatoes, DVDs, silverware – on the street. While it’s an illegal living, it’s a living and, if nothing else, it shows initiative. So, when I see homelessness here, I can only assume that most of the people are in the direst of straits.

Many of the forms of begging here are similar to that in the U.S., but the key difference is children. About once a week, a child, dirty and poor, asks me for money with his parents or owners nearby. I say owners because some of these children are orphans, bought by adults to beg for money.

A few weeks ago, I saw a child without his parents and it broke my heart. I still get the chills thinking about it. He was young, maybe 12 years old and he had burns all over his body. And I don’t mean cigarette burns. I mean he had a skin graft over his head and his hands were knobby and mangled. He looked like he belonged in a burn unit or intensive care or physical therapy. But, here he was, on the subway, asking people for loose change. So, we gave him a couple kuai and he moved on.

I think about this often and now I realize that it’s tough to be poor in a developed country like America, where at least there is an established infrastructure to help the needy. However, being disabled or poor in a developing country like China takes desperation to a new level.