[lfjokes] Human nature at its best

[Simondo]

From: simondo <simondo at paradise.net.nz>

 Late last week, I was rushing around trying to get some last
 minute shopping done. I was stressed out and not thinking
 very fondly of the Christmas season right then. It was dark,
 
 cold, and wet in the parking lot as I was loading my car up
 with gifts that I felt obligated to buy. I noticed that I was missing a
 receipt that I might need later. So mumbling under my
 breath, I retraced my steps to the shopping centre entrance.
 
 As I was searching the wet pavement for the lost receipt, I
 heard quiet sobbing. The crying was coming from a poorly dressed
 boy of about 12 years old.
 
 He was short and thin. He had no coat. He was just wearing a
 ragged flannel shirt to protect him from the cold night's
 chill.
 
 Oddly enough, he was holding a hundred pound note in his
 hand. Thinking that he had gotten lost from his parents, I
 asked him what was wrong. He told me his sad story. He said
 that he came from a large family. He had three brothers and
 four sisters.
 
 His father had died when he was nine years old. His mother was
 poorly educated and worked two full time jobs. She made very little
 to support her large family.
 
 Nevertheless, she had managed to skimp and save two hundred
 pounds to buy her children Christmas presents. The young boy had
 been dropped off, by his mother, on the way to her second job. He
 was to use the money to buy presents for all his siblings and
 save just enough to take the bus home. He had not even
 entered the mall, when an older boy grabbed one of the
 hundred pound notes and disappeared into the night.
 
 "Why didn't you scream for help?" I asked.
 The boy said, "I did."
 
 "And nobody came to help you?" I wondered.
 
 The boy stared at the sidewalk and sadly shook his head.
"How loud did you scream?" I inquired.

 The soft-spoken boy looked up and meekly whispered, "Help me!"
 
 I realized that absolutely no one could have heard that poor
 boy cry for help.
 
 So I grabbed his other hundred and ran to my car.