What can be Learnt From Being a Beggar?

We all have experiences that shake us up a bit and cause us to do some introspection. I recently had just such an experience on a drive down to Cape Town. My wife and I needed to drive down to Cape Town to meet family and honor some commitments. Given that the drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town is a long one and we wanted to do it in one day, we decided to set off at four o’clock in the morning.

The journey started off perfectly, we set off at four and arrived at the Vaal Plaza toll gate at around quarter to five in the morning. As we were drawing in to the Vaal Plaza I realized that I might not have enough cash to get through it. Sure enough the toll was at R54 and I only had R36 on me. I had my debit card with me but for some reason SANRAL toll gates do not accept debit cards. I tried to convince the lady at the toll gate to let us through or to help me somehow but she was unmoved by our plight.

I asked her: “What should I do now? I need to get through the gate.” All She said to me was that I should try and ask other people at the toll for the money to get through. So that is what we tried to do. I parked my car, put my hazards on, and got out to ask people to help us. Because it was so early in the morning there were very people to ask. However, I did my best approaching about four or five cars whilst my wife approached another one or two.

The experience of begging from people to get through the toll gate was an exceptionally humbling one. Not one of the people I approached even acknowledged my presence next to their window. Every single person stared blankly ahead anxiously waiting for me to move along. One car had two men that looked to me like wealthy but very unsavory gangsters. Distressingly even these people that I took to be morally bankrupt rolled up their window as I was approaching, which was the only sign they gave that they were aware of my presence next to them.

In the end I approached the highway patrol car and asked the man in it for help. He said that there was a truck stop back the way we had come and we could draw money there. When I found out that there was a truck stop not far away I got back in the car, turned it around and we went to the truck stop. The atm was not working but the lady at the counter was kind enough to give us the R16 we needed to get through the toll, which we did after I indignantly swore at the lady who told us to beg.

Though this experience was very unpleasant I am in fact very glad I experienced it. I am of the mind that experiences like this show us how little difference there is between the people at the top of the social ladder and those at the bottom. You can never judge at face value about the story that lies behind a person. Take away my car, and have me in tracksuit pants at 5 in the morning begging for money, then in the mind of all who pass I am a worthless beggar. I bet in different circumstances, with different clothes on, and getting out of an expensive car, all of those people would have taken me very seriously.

These experiences are useful to remind us that our position on the social hierarchy does not determine our worth.Your social standing is an extremely fickle and superficial thing and does not bear at all on your value as a human being. If you think that you have value because of your social position, remember that in the blink of an eye people will treat you like a dog. But also remember that them treating you like a dog does not in anyway mean anything for your value. They do not know who you are and what gold your heart might contain so their opinion of you is absolutely meaningless. They are like the blind man forming opinions about your color.

I would be interested to hear whether people agree that we should seek the sorts of experiences like the one I recently had. If you have any thoughts on this please share in the comments section below.