Our Far Flung Correspondents

Beauty in Beggars

By Dana Bentyn

An exhausting shopping trip to Hong Kong brought two weary travelers insight into man’s ability to prosper even in the very direst of circumstances.

My friend and I were on a shopping vacation marketed to “rich” Americans. It was the ‘80s and we had money then. Well, we had money before we got there. Hong Kong was a fine-tuned capitalist machine in a Communist world offering everything one could dream of or afford.

Shirley McClain had written in her book “Dancing in the Light” that Hong Kong was the only place in the world where you could go broke saving money. She was absolutely right.

Goodness knows our wallets needed a break, so we decided to travel into the new territories of China.

Our passports had been thoroughly checked, and we were on our way to Macau. Authorities photographed each visitor where they funneled us into an enclosed tunnel and directly into tour buses. Very controlled. A bit unnerving.

After being seated on the bus, the young interpreter and guide immediately began to indoctrinate us. He explained how Communism had brought industry, wealth and plenty to the Chinese people, bypassing the part that Capitalism had played in their new found prosperity.

Unscheduled movement outside the bus reminded me of travels to Mexico. Beggars looking for tourist money. It was obvious the tour guide and local officials could not figure out how to keep the beggars away.

Then, I saw him. A Chinese man with a child on his shoulders walked boldly up to the side of the bus. He stood quite tall in the crowd of beggars, assuring that he could be seen. A friendly face and a ready hand reached out. It was then I saw his squinting eyes. Suddenly, I realized he could not see. It was then I saw the child perched on his shoulders, who was not a child at all. He was a small man about the same age with mangled legs, withered and wrapped familiarly around the shoulders of the tall blind man. 

The smaller man was looking around for possible offerings and ably guiding the tall man with each movement of his body. Their activity was comfortable and automatic, working together as one unit and frankly doing quite well at achieving their common goal.

Repeatedly the small man on his shoulders saw and spoke to us while guiding the tall man beneath him with ease. And each time resulted in money. I watched in admiration of their ability to be the eyes and legs for one another. They easily worked together in an admirable symbiosis where neither could have survived without the other.

As our bus pulled away, I was left with an image I could never forget and a vision of how the human condition can unite us, save us and lift us up.