Christmas, or at least a semblance of it, came early to a homeless man
in New York about a month ago—whether he knew it or not. On a freezing night in
November, New York police officer Larry DePrimo saw a barefoot drifter
wandering about in Times Square. The cop then reportedly darted into a store
and came back with a brand-new pair of boots and socks, which he then gave to
the man.
That heart-warming act of
kindness might have remained unknown and anonymous but for a tourist who was
able to snap a picture of DePrimo kneeling before the man and presenting him
his new pair of shoes. The picture was posted online and, not unexpectedly,
immediately went viral and notched some 1.6 million views. The cop was hailed
for his compassion, while news organisations went into a frenzy trying to find
the homeless man.
When they did find him, they ran
into quite a surprise. According to the UK Guardian, “The New York Times found
him wandering the upper west side—still barefooted. His new boots were nowhere
to be seen. The homeless man’s name is Jeffrey Hillman, he is a military
veteran who worked in kitchens before living on the streets, and he told the
Times he has hidden the boots because they are so expensive. He’s scared
someone might kill him for them. Plus, he wants a ‘piece of the pie’ from the
dissemination of his image online.”
After the unadulterated sense of
goodwill generated by the initial story, the reality turned out to be something
less than edifying—but not, of course, on account of the cop, whose act remains
unsullied and worthy of praise. It was the recipient’s crass insistence on
playing the instant celebrity by milking the situation for grubby dollars, that
left a bitter taste in the mouth.
Kindness wasted on the
ungrateful? Perhaps. But it shouldn’t detract from the purity of what DePrimo
did—that being charitable in itself is a complete act, whether it is met with
graciousness and gratitude or indifference and scorn.
Something similar, in fact,
happened here at home some months ago—captured on video and also widely shared
online, but thankfully without a sour subplot like the one that marred the
Times Square story.
At the height of a storm that
inundated Metro Manila and nearby provinces, a bystander was able to capture on
his cell phone video the stirring sight of a young woman who stopped in her
tracks before a naked child under a flyover. The young woman took off her coat,
draped it around the child’s shoulders and buttoned it up. Then, with a final
pat on the child’s shoulders, she hurried off.
Neither the young woman nor the
child has been identified—but whoever they were, the tableau they enacted on
that strikingly gloomy day in the metropolis was certainly the epitome of the
Christmas spirit.
The Yuletide season came early to
both of them—the giver, for the opportunity to open her heart and lend a hand,
and the recipient, for the blessing of a piece of clothing on a rain-drenched
day. But, really, it came early for the rest of us, too, who were able to watch
the video or read or hear about the incident, and who were not merely touched
by the rare act of compassion and generosity, but also inspired, in our own
lives and our own small ways, to do the same.
It’s easy, and justifiable, to
bewail what Christmas has become. “If the Christmas Present with its full-on
worship of consumerism continues to masquerade as Christmas Past, our Christmas
Futures will increasingly become times when we give out of our abundance rather
than out of a response to need and out of a response to God’s love,” wrote Mark
Sandlin in The Huffington Post. “They will be the kinds of Christmases in which
we give to those who already have abundantly while the oppressed, the
downtrodden, watch our overindulgence and rightfully judge us by actions which
run contrary to our words of a child born to bring light into the dark corners
of the world.”
Indeed. But there is always
hope—and, many times, it comes in the form of small, courageous acts of
tenderness and humanity, unplanned and unbidden, arising out of the
spontaneous, considerate angels of our nature. Let our gift-giving at this time
of year be a reminder that the Redeemer’s coming was in part to nudge us on our
unfinished task to build a kinder, gentler world—one with shoes, warm coats and
gentle pats for those in need.
Editorial Desk
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