I took this photo of this man outside a Glasgow court, he was so drunk that he could not stand. Many that saw him clinging on to the wall mocked and laughed as they past him by. He was oblivious to their smirks and unkind comments. What struck me about the man was that he had made an effort to dress well for court, no doubt in the hope the judge would look favourably on him. At one point he was in danger of falling so I sat him down on the steps to avoid him injuring himself.
Many of us if we saw him on the street would walk on by. Maybe we would think "oh that's a shame" but that's as far as our compassion would go before we walked on. I am not one to hand money to drunks, drug addicts or homeless but like my mum I am more than willing to buy them food if they are hungry. Yet we know when they ask for money its not food that they want because their body craves whatever they are addicted too.
I sometimes see them in the city centre and instead of giving money or buying food I pop into the nearest charity shop and buy a jacket. It is a simple act of kindness for which I seek no reward other than to help my fellow man.
A friend of mine at Xmas no longer buys a gift for her work colleagues but puts the money in a small box and along with her other colleagues donate the cash to a charity. What a wonderful act of kindness. She is not a Christian and in fact has no belief at all, other than helping others less fortunate.
There are 100s of people like the man in my picture who this Xmas will be sleeping rough in some doorway. I know we cant help them all but if we can make a difference to just one, who knows how their life will turn out.
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