A Memory From Thailand

we were on holiday when i was 10 and walking down a market street.There was a man holding his hand up to the tourists walking by so i reached into the little purse of coins my mother gave me to buy the little trinkets i liked with, and gave him what i had. As we kept walking we passed by another man, but i had no more to give, so i asked my mother for an extra coin.She smiled softly at me and gave me the coin but then said, "you cant help every one". This confused my immature mind , but as we kept walking I looked around more and more and realised that every few metres there would be someone on the ground looking up with their hand out.The reality struck me then and never left me. Later on you would hear about how some of these people are actively disfigured or disabled to make begging more effective.But it never changed the deeper point of why do these people feel the need to do that in the first place.it may be self indulgent or overly sentimental of me,but in that moment I knew what I was going to do with my life and no matter what im going through once i remember that tiny tiny memory on a busy street, my problems get smaller and the world bigger and the hope for a better future for others makes it a better life for me.