A woman’s post about her meeting with a homeless man has gone viral because it reminds us all that we should acknowledge each other for our humanness.
At first glance you would think that this is a story about how Sharon Moosa Tayob changed the life of a homeless man, but really it was the other way around.
Tayob was in central Pretoria on her way to a client when she noticed a homeless man reading a Bible. She was intrigued and wondered if he did this everyday. He was so absorbed in his reading that he didn’t notice her standing next to him.
“So I bent down and said “hello” to my surprise the man had such a shock moving his body sidewards away from me and I apologized saying I didn’t mean to scare him but I noticed that he is sitting out there reading the Bible and I wanted to know why?”
The man apologized and then explained that he did not get a fright, he was just surprised as no one ever really speaks to him.
“I can’t even remember when the last time somebody spoke to me.”
“This Bible is the only friend I have and the only thing that speaks to me and when Im reading it, I don’t feel, hungry, thirsty, unclean, worthless and unworthy, even though I am all of those things but it keeps me from going under.”
Tayob was in tears when she heard this but couldn’t stay to talk to him as she was already late for her client meeting. She explained that she was running late, left him with some money and turned to walk away.
The homeless man asked if she could come back sometime to spend some time with him, to which she agreed.
“On my way back, again he didn’t notice me standing over him and I said hi and he looked up and he smiled and was so surprised that I had come back.”
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“He gave me his place to sit which was on top of a bag and his blankets and he began to talk about so much stuff, surprisingly nothing negative but it just made me want to cry to see a men in his situation being so grateful.”
The man explained that the little bit of money Tayob had given him would buy him a space in a shelter where he would safe and able to clean himself up.
“I just sleep anywhere here around the corner, it’s not so bad. The only thing I hate is feeling dirty, I really hate it and now for 2 weeks I can take a bath everyday.”
“I’ve never gone one day hungry without food and water, Jesus always sustains me & on the days that I don’t have food, I don’t feel hungry at all.”
Tayob thanked him for sharing his story with her. Spending that short time with him made her realize so much about life.
“I said to him that he had already given me more then he realized and I gave him the biggest hug and we both walked away with tears in our eyes.”
“This was an amazing encounter, reminding me of what a spoilt bratt I am and how I focus and worry about things that are so small and insignificant… I have so much to be thankful for.”
The post has been shared thousands of times with many people commenting on how they too were reminded of how we take things for granted.
Dheshen Govender commented: “Well done … faith in humanity restored”
Keith Williams added: “This brought a tear to my eye, there is always someone out the that are worse off then you, stay blessed”
Pamela Singarum posted: “Heartfelt post, such simple reminders of all we have to be grateful for”
There has also been a massive amount of interest to help the homeless man. Tayob and a few community members are planning on going back to hand over donations of money, clothing & food.
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