He Opened My Mind
He sat on the lawn， a hard cardboard lying before him， his dog squatting beside him. On the cardboard it wrote， "I'm in trouble， feeling very hungry and begging for your help."
I was a woman who was easily moved when I saw someone need help. For my peculiarity， my husband both loved and hated. I pulled over our van， watching the man and his dog from therearview mirror. He was still very young， perhaps only 40 years old. He wrapped his head with a large handkerchief， just like a motorcyclist or a pirate. He was dirty with a scraggly beard. All he had was only a small parcel. No one stopped for him. I saw other drivers only see him once and immediately looked away.
It was hot outside. From the man's deep blue eyes， I saw his frustration， boredom and exhaustion， sweat streaming down his face.
I reached into my wallet and produced a banknote of 10 dollars. My 12-year-old son Nick immediately knew what I was going to do. "Can I bring it to him， Mom？"
"Be careful， dear，" I warned him as I handed the money to him. From the rearview mirror I watched him running quickly to the man and gave him the money with a shy smile. I saw the man was shocked to stand up， take the money and put it into his pocket. "Great，" I thought， "at least he can eat a warm dinner tonight." I felt satisfied and proud. Now I would go for my business.
When returning to the car， Nick looked at me with sad and pleading eyes， "Mommy， his dog looks so hot. The man is really good." I thought I had to do something else.
"Go back to tell him waiting there for a while until we come back in 15 minutes，" I told Nick. He jumped off the car and ran to tell that stranger. Then， we drove to the nearest store and carefully chose gifts. "The things cannot be too heavy，" I explained to the kids， "they must be the ones that he can carry." We finally bought something， a bag of dog food and two bottles of water as well as some fast food for the man.