A Little Conversation in A Restaurant

One day, when I was in a restaurant with my friend, Alfa, a boy worn a torn t-shirt and a dirty white short came to our table.

The boy upturned his hand and said, "Pity me..".

As usual, Alfa and I wave our hand as a sign of not wanting to give the boy our money. Fortunately, he urged us to give him a little money.

As a result, Alfa asked the boy while his finger pointed at the empty chair in front of him, "Would you care to sit with us here?".

Without long thoughts, the boy sat directly on tha chair pointed. His eyes were looking at his surroundings.

Read Alfa thoughts, I asked the boy his name, "What's you name, Kid?"

"Imam," the boy answered without looking at me nor Alfa.

"Hi, Imam!" I said to him. "Would you like to eat something?"

The boy didn't answer. He was still looking around, like someone being confused of something.

Alfa then called the waiter, "Sir, may we have another fried noodle for this boy?"

"Certainly," answered the waiter with a confusing look on his face.

The waiter then yelled at another waiter to bring the fried noodle to our table. Fortunately the food was ready to be served, so Imam didn't have to wait for too long.

While we were eating, Alfa and I had a little conversation with Imam.

Alfa : "So Imam, do you go to school?"

Imam : "Yes, every morning."

Me : "What grade are you?"

Imam : (scratching his head) "3th grade."

Alfa : "Why are you asking for someone else pity? Upturn your hand and hoping people to give you some money?"

Imam : (increasing his voice a little) "'Cause I don't like you two who have enough money even to buy me a plate of fried noodle. My Dad passed away a year ago. After that, my mom has to work, usually overtime, to get some money for me my little brother, so that we can go to school."

Me : (giving an angry look to Alfa) "We're sorry, Imam. We didn't mean to hurt your feeling."

Imam : (almost standing from his chair, angry) "Ah..! Then don't be. I know that most of the rich people like you two never care with people like me."

Me : (holding Imam's left hand) "Wait, Imam. We're really sorry."

Imam : (sitting again on his chair, continuing to eat his fried noodle) "Okay.."

There was a silent for a moment. Alfa and I took this moment to look closer at Imam, trying to read what's on his mind.

Imam : "My mom's earning can only make only myself go to school. So, I have to help her to pay for my brother's school activity. Walking around my neighborhood and pity myself to gain some money."

Alfa : "What do your mother do for living?"

Imam : (smiling to us) "She's a teacher."

Actually, the conversation was very long that I can't put it in here 'cause it will make you all feel bored. At the end, we did give him some money (big enough than the nominal we used to give to other poor people). Instead of making this post become longer and longer, there are things that I want to underline.

First, do we really care for our brothers and sisters, the same Indonesian people who perhaps not as lucky as we are? Honestly, I was surprised when Imam accused Alfa and I for not being that care to people like them. Okay, we feel pity when they ask us to give them money, but then what? What can we do to change their life? (Actually this question is for myself too.)

Second, do we do something wrong when we refuse to give some money to them when they ask for it? I know that the government gives us instruction not to give them some money. But in some cases, they do really need it at that time.

I leave the questions without being answered. It's you, dear readers, who really know what should we do on these matters.