Monday, January 4, 2010

See this picture? Of course you do! It was taken of us when we were in St. Augustine. We were walking through the little town center where vendors were set up selling their wares. My daughter was in the process of taking a picture of me, Alivia and my niece when a homeless man walked up to us and asked if we would like him to take a picture of all of us. My daughter didn't hesitate to hand him her brand new digital camera, which she had just won from an office party at work.

So, with smiling faces we eagerly posed for him, glad for a change that we would all be in the picture together. A rare occurrence. As the man brought the camera up to his eye he took one step back, and then another, and I couldn't help thinking, he's going to take off running. Later my daughter confessed she thought the same thing when he began to move backwards, there goes my new camera.

The man took the picture and brought the camera back to us. And I immediately felt ashamed for what I'd been thinking. I gave him a few dollars, he thanked us and rejoined the group of his friends.

Why do you suppose when strangers do something nice for us that we begin to question why they're doing it? What do they want? I know I'm not the only one who thinks that way. I don't usually, but the moment he took that first step away from us toward the street, the thought popped into my head that he was going to run with it.

4 comments:

Kathleen said...

How brave of your daughter to trust and what a lovely photo and story you have.

margaret blake said...

Lovely family picture. One to keep forever.

Sarita Leone said...

I love the photo, and the story as well. Definitely a story of trust! Just wonderful. :)

Tory Richards said...

Thanks for stopping by fellow larkers! Hope your holiday season was as nice as mine. I'm glad it's over though and ready to start those New Year's Resolutions! LOL