As we know there are always two sides of one story.

There are moments in this life that catch your soul, that enlighten your life and wake you up. They make you see your lack of respect, your lack of understanding the equality of humans, your borders and how to see people’s dignity even if they in the eyes of the society lost it.

Let me tell you about human pride, dignity and equality.

In the city I live in there are different organizations taking care of homeless, one thing homeless do within one of these organizations is, they are writing articles for a newspaper, written from homeless peoples point of view (a really interesting newspaper). This newspaper is sold by homeless in the streets. Something like 40% of each newspaper sold goes into their pocket.

I was sitting with my family in a cafe in the city and there was this homeless coming in to sell the newspapers. This man approached our table and we really didn’t want to get the newspaper don’t ask me why because I can’t remember. He was asking us to buy one and we took out the money for the paper gave it to the man and told him to keep the money and the newspaper because he could sell it to someone else. There was seriously no bad intention. The man looked at us, his eyes filled with tears and his hands were shaking, he put the money on the table we were sitting at, looked at us and said: “You didn’t understand it, did you?”

We were sitting there not knowing what was going on. He, still looking at us with tears-filled eyes continued: “I come from the dirt, I come from the gutter- (he stopped shortly) – I am trying to start a new life, I am writing articles and selling newspapers, trying to get my feet back on the ground and you through me back in the gutter. I don’t need pittance”. All of us were mute, we were shocked as we really didn’t see our disrespect before, we asked him to join us for a cup of coffee, he sat down drank a coffee with us and after he left, when we asked for the bill the waiter came and said that the bill was already taken care of.

I will never forget that day. I will never forget his eyes when he spoke his mind and I will never forget the joy and laughter he brought to our table, how relaxed he was after our apology, how he changed our way of seeing things. He was living brotherhood, forgiveness and understanding.

I don’t know how often these moments crop-up but they do and they come when it is time for you – who really think you are living according to the Human Rights – to understand that we all have to remind ourselves to reconsider the way we look at others, the way we are forgetting our beliefs and the way we prejudge, everyday! It is good to know that when you forget that there are thousands of small situations bringing you back on the track and if you are just aware of yourself and aware of life these moments leave a trace in your heart that nobody including you can ever erase.

Hırpıt