The unconscious homeless man lying on the ground was ignored by everyone until a little boy, who was considered an outcast, approached him.
Jay was a 12-year-old boy who lived as an outcast among the other children in his community. He was a very intelligent child who had received a wonderful spiritual upbringing.
When the other kids were having fun at recess, he preferred to read a good book in the library, which fueled his store of knowledge, leaving a huge intellectual gap between him and his classmates. This gave him such nicknames as ” geek ” and ” nerd “.
When they played football, he was picked last or not picked at all for the team. Not that he wanted to play, but the coach was determined to get all the students into physical education.
“You’re special, son, they don’t understand that,” his mother would tell him when he told her how the coach made him play despite his lack of interest.
One morning Jay went out of the house to take out the rubbish. It was the weekend, and he often helped his mother with chores instead of going out to have fun with the neighbourhood kids, most of whom were from his school.
That morning, Jay dragged the black nylon bin, filled with all their rubbish, to the curb, where the big bin was easily approached by a rubbish collection vehicle.
He had just put the bag in the bin when he saw an old man lying motionless on the ground in front of him. Jay walked over to the man and called softly to him.
“Sir?” – he asked in his quiet voice, “Sir, are you awake?”
The man didn’t turn around and Jay walked back to his side of the road. Looking at the man again, he started walking towards his house, but stopped when he heard the ringing of bicycle bells.
He saw his classmates stop on their bicycles in front of the helpless man. The leader got off his bike and kicked the man in the ribs with the toe of his boot, and when he did not respond, everyone burst into laughter.
“Do you think he’s dead?” – One of them asked.
“No, look at his chest, he’s still breathing,” said the leader.
“He stinks!” – Shouted another boy, clamping his nose.
The situation quickly escalated as they tried to kick the man to see who could wake him first. Jay decided it had to stop and ran to them to talk them out of it.
“This is wrong!” – he exclaimed. “You must leave this man alone!”
“Hey guys, look, it’s a cockroach from the books!” – Shouted the leader. “Have you come for your father?” – He asked with a cruel smile.
“We both know he’s not my father, silly,” Jay said with annoyance.
Jay’s father was a war veteran, killed in action before he was born. But his classmates often teased him about it, saying the man ran away from home because his son was such a nerd.
At first it hurt Jay, but after a while the remark seemed silly to him. So he brushed it off easily.
“I think this man needs help,” he told the group of naughty children.
“If you don’t get out of the way now, it is you who will need help,” said the leader, encouraging his minions.
The situation was becoming increasingly tense when Jay heard a man’s voice behind him. It was his neighbour, sir. Monjack. “What’s going on here?” – The big bear asked. He was about six feet tall and many people call him Winnie because he’s cute and friendly, like Winnie the Pooh.
“These boys want to hurt the homeless man because they think he stinks,” said Jay.
“That’s a display of human cruelty for you, Jay,” the neighbour said and turned to face the boys. “You boys better get out of here before I start kicking your brains out.”
He didn’t need to repeat himself twice before they got on their bikes and drove off. After they left, Mr Monjack called an ambulance for the homeless man.
Jay’s mother, who worked as a nurse, was one of those caring for the man when he was brought to hospital. Apparently he had pneumonia and could have died if he had not been treated.
“I heard from Mr Monjack that you helped get this man to hospital. I’m very proud of you,” his mother congratulated him the same day.
A few weeks later, on his birthday, Jay found out that the homeless man, Mark, had started working as a repairman at the hospital. The man thought he had been given another chance at life, got a job and started living a normal life again.
He attended Jay’s birthday party and gave him the latest issue of his favourite comic book as a thanks for his dedication.
