It was 8:00 am. A group of college students got out of my car to make a video in the park. My job, as the driver, was to stay nearby so that if anything was needed I could open the car.
Knowing that I could have several hours' free time, I decided to go somewhere and do some reading. Against a wall, I found a beautiful park bench (长凳). I noticed that a man was sitting on one end, but there was plenty of room for at least two more bodies. Walking over, I sat on the end seat to have a rest.
The man on the other end looked at me but remained seated. I quickly discovered that he'd probably spent the night on the bench. His clothes were dirty, his hair was untidy, and soon I caught a bad smell of body sweat (汗水). I looked at him and smiled, and he smiled back with a mouth of blacked-out teeth.
We both sat there for over an hour peacefully. I was reading. He was watching the video making. He then stood up, walked in front of me and bowed. In a little shaky but clear voice, he said, "Thank you." I lifted my head.
"For what?" I questioned.
He looked at the ground as he said, "Usually people won't even look at me, let alone sit by me. Thank you for treating me like a human being."
I honestly didn't know what to say as he turned and walked quickly around the corner. I was shocked. I hadn't done anything special. I just shared a bench.
To me, he was just someone who wanted a place to rest. That's exactly what I had wanted. We were no different. I finally realized that my actions had truly meant something to this poor homeless man. So, treating others in an equal (平等的) way can also make a difference to the world.
① I found a park bench and sat on it.
② I spent over an hour with the man.
③ The man said thank you to me.
④ I looked at the man and smiled.
