Eric's Beijing Diary

As I left the orphanage this morning, the administrator took my hand and said, "God bless you," in English. It was the first English I had heard from her, and I appreciated her sincerity. We caught the village shuttle at 8am and rode to Taiyuan. Satellite was riding with us as far as Taiyuan, where she would catch another bus to her home town, and we would take the express bus to Beijing. When we got to Taiyuan, we started to say goodbye to Satellite. She covered her face with her hand and couldn't speak. Jean told her that we would walk with her to her bus. It turned out to be quite a walk, but I think it was the right thing to do. On the way, I was accosted by a beggar. I just grabbed whatever I had handy and gave it to him. I turned out to be three jiao, which was not enough for him. He started to complain. Jean turned to him, "If you're not satisfied, would you like to give it back?" I felt kinda bad for giving him so little, so I reached in my wallet and gave him one yuan. Jean did not like this. She said, "No, you shouldn't do that. He's not poor in spirit. If he was really poor, he would be satisfied with whatever you gave him." She's right, of course. I don't know. I never know what to do about beggars. I want to help people who are really desperate, but I don't want to be encouraging people who are just lazy. But I don't know if just handing him three jiao was a good thing to do. If a beggar is not really poor, then we should not give him less money, we should give him no money. Fraud is fraud. But if he really is destitute, then I think perhaps one yuan would not be inappropriate. It's a tough problem, because there really are some folks who have lost all sense of dignity because of prolonged poverty. It's very frustrating. But there again, I really believe that the best approach to use is to get involved with helping rural China at the village level.

After saying goodbye to Satellite, Jean and Claire and I caught a motorcycle taxi to our bus station, bought our tickets, and then went to a restaurant. Meat. I was really good to have meat. I have been living on vegetables for the past week. Not that I am complaining. The food we have been eating has been very, very good. I never knew there were so many ways to fix vegetables. Jean told me, "Eric, you eat anything." I said, "No, actually, I deliberately limit myself to food." She said foreigners sometimes have trouble with village food. But take it from me--if foreigners have trouble with the food I have been eating this past week, the problem is with the foreigners, not the food. Still, the pork and eggplant dish sure tasted good. I like vegetables, but I am definitely carnivorous.